A national survey on the well-being of pupils’ and teachers’ in the Luxembourg school system – conducted in June 2021 by the National Observatory of Childhood, Youth, and Educational Quality (OEJQS) – shows mixed findings concerning pupils’ and teachers’ well-being.
The OEJQS, which collaborated with the University of Liege in Belgium to ensure a valid methodological framework, sent out questionnaires to every single pupil and student in the Luxembourg school system. Over 25,000 pupils and more than 3,000 teachers participated in the survey, which took place in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, thus under notably different circumstances.
According to the report, a majority of pupils deem school a “pleasant place”. Younger pupils express the highest satisfaction with school, while a majority of secondary school students declared feeling well in their school.
However, this stands in contrast with a majority of pupils and teachers who indicated that they experience stress and tiredness. Furthermore, a majority of secondary school students indicated insufficient support from their teachers.
The report was presented to the MPs of the parliamentary education commission on Tuesday morning at the request of The Greens (Déi Gréng). In the report, the OEJQS suggests that teacher training should also focus on social and emotional competencies.
Following this, MP Francine Closener of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) criticised the insufficient training teachers receive. Closener voiced concern over the endless cycle involving pupils’ lack of motivation, which in return discourages teachers, thus fuelling the pupils’ lack of interest.
Closener stressed the need to train teachers in socio-emotional competencies to tackle this issue.
MP Ricardo Marques of the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) shared his view that teachers should become more aware of their important and determining role in the classroom, comparing them to leaders and “captains”.
To make matters worse, 75% of teachers stated in the report that they suffer from exhaustion either a few days per week or every day of the week, including high levels of stress. Furthermore, 79% indicated that they are swamped with administrative tasks, a fact that the report describes as one of the most problematic issues, while also nuancing that more refined data about administrative tasks are needed to determine the exact nature of the problem.
The Greens’ MP Meris Sehovic found overlaps between the results of the OEJQS report and the recent study conducted by the teachers’ unions with regard to teachers’ high stress level and the burden of administrative tasks, thus calling for a reduction of administrative tasks in schools.
Education Minister Claude Meisch of the Democratic Party (DP) responded to MPs on the education commission by emphasising that measures are being explored to ease teachers’ administrative burden, particularly through the use of AI. Future studies will also analyse the effect of the use of digital devices on pupils’ well-being, according to the DP politician.
