A roundtable discussion on Saturday tackled the upcoming introduction of French literacy classes in Luxembourg’s primary schools. The panel featured Joëlle Damé, president of the SEW teachers’ union, Luc Weis, director of the Educational and Technological Research and Innovation Coordination Service (SCRIPT), and Antoine Fischbach, a member of the scientific council for the “Alpha” French literacy project.
Starting next school year, children will have the option to learn to read and write in French, in addition to the traditional German path. The discussion focused on identifying which pupils will benefit, reviewing initial results from the pilot project, and addressing the challenges for educators.
Luc Weis and Antoine Fischbach explained that learning literacy in a language closer to a child’s own has shown positive spillover effects in other subjects, such as mathematics. They stressed that the pilot project’s results have demonstrated this benefit.
However, Joëlle Damé raised concerns, criticising the project’s development for not including secondary education. She noted it remains unclear what German proficiency level children taught literacy in French will achieve, which could impact their orientation in Cycle 4. In response, Weis acknowledged the need for adaptation in secondary schools and announced that corresponding changes are planned for implementation by 2030.
