Luxembourg’s Ministry of Education, Children and Youth has announced that the Chamber of Deputies passed a new law in favour of new measures for student well-being and inclusive education.

The text is based on regular consultations with the unions of teaching staff and national educational staff (CGFP and OGBL), the colleges of directors of basic education, secondary education and skills centres, the National Inclusion Commission, the Reasonable Accommodation Commission and the national representation of parents.

The law concretises the agreement of 16 November 2021 between the Luxembourg Minister of Education, Children and Youth, Claude Meisch, on the one hand, and the Luxembourg association for educators (Association Luxembourgeoise des Educateurs et Educatrices - ALEE), the SLEG Union (Syndicat luxembourgeois des Educateurs/trices Gradué(e)s) and the national education staff union working specifically in the interest of pupils with special educational needs (Syndicat du personnel de l’Éducation nationale œuvrant spécifiquement dans l’intérêt des élèves à besoins éducatifs spécifiques - SPEBS), affiliated to the General Confederation of Civil Servants (CGFP) and working in the interest of the educational and psychosocial staff (EPS), on the other hand.

The new law places the interest of the child at the centre of concerns and aims to guarantee that every child has access to quality education. It aims to ensure better collaboration between the various actors in the field, parents and students with the aim of improving the care of students, their well-being and promoting an inclusive school.

“Today, more and more psychologists, instructors and educators are working in our schools and secondary schools. They do important work for the benefit of our students and our society. More and more students need help and support, either because they have problems in their lives or because they have special educational needs. With this law, we are strengthening the psycho-social teams of our schools and secondary schools, clarifying their missions and emphasising the quality of services", highlighted Minister Meisch.

Each secondary school has an educational and psycho-social department, which is made up of the psycho-social and school support service, the socio-educational service, the support team for pupils with special educational needs, the school orientation and integration and, where applicable, boarding school. The department in question is headed by a head of department, drawn from the educational and psychosocial staff.

Under Article 19 of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, States parties must take measures to protect children from all forms of violence, neglect, abuse and exploitation.

A student protection delegate (DPE) is appointed in each secondary school. Its mission will be to promote respect for the rights of the student and to prevent and protect against all forms of abuse and danger that go against the well-being of the student, to raise awareness, to advise and support the school community, as well as provide information on the procedures to be followed and the development and organisation of training related to student protection.

The new law aims to guarantee continuous support for students with special needs throughout their schooling. It strengthens and restructures the support system for pupils with special needs currently in place, introduces new measures for inclusive education and reduces the mandatory time limits for the development of diagnoses and the implementation of support measures.

In addition to restructuring inclusive education, the new law introduces three major innovations in Luxembourg:

  • support teams for students with special educational needs (ESEB) in secondary schools;
  • in secondary education, support teams for students with special educational needs (ESEB) will be introduced in each secondary school, similar to the support system already in place in basic schools. The mission of the ESEBs is to support students in order to promote their well-being, their autonomy, their personal development and their participation in school life. They advise parents and teachers and can provide outpatient care for students with special needs within the school;
  • an assistant for pupils with special educational needs (A-EBS) for each primary school.

To support schools in the supervision of pupils with special needs and to allow greater responsiveness, the function of assistant for pupils with special educational needs (A-EBS) has been introduced at the level of primary education. Over the next few years, an A-EBS will be assigned to each primary school. It will support specialist teachers for pupils with special educational needs (I-EBS) in their daily activities. The A-EBS will be recruited at the level of the professional aptitude diploma (DAP).

In order to ensure good coordination and a fruitful exchange between the key players, a new administration called the National Service for Inclusive Education (SNEI) has been put in place. Its main mission is to promote inclusive education by ensuring the development of the system and the networking of the various social actors involved in the care of students with special needs.

The new law takes into account the key findings of an evaluation of the care system currently in place, published in January 2023. The Chamber of Deputies requested such an evaluation when adopting the law of 20 July 2018, creating centres of competence in specialised psychopedagogy in favour of inclusive education.