During a Wednesday morning debate in the Chamber of Deputies, MPs from across party lines agreed that Luxembourg's education system faces multiple challenges, including excessive red tape, a highly stressful environment, and staff shortages. While Education Minister Claude Meisch acknowledged these issues, he stressed that there are no panaceas.
The debate, requested by the Left Party (Déi Lénk), focused on how working conditions in primary schools could be improved to better combat inequalities in the education system. Across party lines, MPs concurred that there is still considerable room for improvement.
Left Party MP David Wagner criticised common stereotypes about teachers in Luxembourg – namely that they earn high salaries, enjoy generous leave days, and teach largely the same material each year – arguing that these perceptions do not reflect the reality. Wagner stated that teachers bear significant responsibility and face increasing stress, partly due to the inclusion of children with specific needs.
To address these challenges, Wagner argued that teachers must either be given more time and adequate training or receive greater support from specialised staff. According to Wagner, the government's new inclusivity plan indicates that the Ministry of Education has chosen the latter approach. The Left Party welcomes this decision, with Wagner noting that when teachers work alongside trained professionals, their own understanding of children with specific needs improves.
More broadly, the Left Party is calling for a revision of teachers' workloads and for measures to alleviate them, including the introduction of additional administrative staff. The opposition party warned that the digitalisation of procedures alone is not a solution.
MP Ricardo Marques of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV) pointed out that Luxembourg has 165 primary schools, each with very different needs. According to Marques, the specific issues also vary from school to school. For this reason, the CSV argues that a one-size-fits-all solution is not feasible. Marques primarily advocated for a reorganisation of school management.
However, he noted that simply introducing one management per school would be too simplistic, suggesting instead that better alternatives exist. One such alternative, Marques proposed, would be to professionalise the role of the school chairperson. He explained that the chairperson is already an established part of the system, familiar with the staff and the local reality, and maintains relations with parents, the municipality, and other school partners. In Marques' view, the school chairperson is "accepted and trusted" by the school community.
At the same time, Marques acknowledged that many situations do not need to be resolved at the top of the hierarchy. In this regard, he called for bringing psycho-social services closer to the ground and embedding them within regional management structures.
Speaking for the Democratic Party (DP), MP Barbara Agostino advocated for closer cooperation between schools and families.
MP Francine Closener of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP) stated that schools are neither hospitals nor psychiatric wards, meaning that providing constant one-on-one treatment is not feasible. Nevertheless, she acknowledged the importance of increasing the number of teachers.
Closener also highlighted the plight of teaching staff employed under standard contracts rather than as civil servants. She criticised that these teachers often move from one fixed-term contract to the next without ever being offered a permanent position – regardless of their engagement or the quality of their work.
Closener lamented that such a situation would not be tolerated in the private sector and is only accepted in education. She directly called on Minister Meisch to address the issue, stressing that without these teachers, Luxembourg's schools would be unable to function.
Meanwhile, MP Fred Keup of the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR) declared Claude Meisch's 13-year tenure as education minister a "failure". Keup criticised that the introduction of multiple new committees and reforms had led to general confusion. One specific point of criticism for the ADR MP were the planned literacy classes in French.
He noted that, in addition to the issues already mentioned during the debate, this initiative would result in classrooms where some students learn to read and write in German while others do so in French. In Keup's view, this will do anything but make life easier for teaching staff.
In contrast, MP Meris Šehović of the Green Party (Déi Gréng) accused Keup of "badmouthing everything". While challenges exist, Šehović said, one could still be proud of Luxembourg's education system.
MP Sven Clement of the Pirate Party criticised that educational success remains highly dependent on the socio-economic background of one's parents.
Closing the debate, Minister Meisch stressed that schools are a mirror image of society, which is why many of the problems and challenges found elsewhere are also present in schools. For this reason, Meisch believes that one cannot cling to the educational system of the past but must adapt it to the current context.
While he agreed that there is a need for more teachers, he countered that not just anyone can be hired, and that new teachers must be deployed in a targeted manner – for instance, in schools with a particularly high number of children from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. Meisch also stated that while a reduction in the administrative burden would be desirable, it would be difficult to implement.
