The National Union of Teachers (SNE) has renewed its criticism of Luxembourg's French literacy reform, saying the government moved too quickly from four pilot schools to nationwide implementation without sufficient evidence of its long-term impact.
Speaking to RTL on the final day of the school year, SNE president Patrick Remakel raised concerns over the handling of a scientific evaluation of the Alpha pilot project, which introduces the option of learning to read and write in French rather than German.
The reform will begin to be introduced in pre-school education in September, before parents are eventually asked to choose between French and German literacy instruction for their children.
On 3 June, the SNE requested access to an evaluation of standardised tests carried out in the Alpha pilot schools by the Luxembourg Centre for Educational Testing (LUCET).
According to Remakel, the union was told that the report, which had been completed in February, was under embargo until July because the results did not meet expectations. The Education Ministry reportedly denied in a parliamentary committee meeting on Tuesday that such an embargo had been imposed.
Remakel nevertheless insisted that the term had been explicitly used in correspondence received by an SNE member.
"When a completed report is kept under embargo, people working in the field naturally get the impression that there is something to hide, and trust is lost", he said.
Given the scale and controversial nature of the Alpha reform, Remakel argued that transparency was particularly important. He also criticised the suggestion that scientific results might be assessed according to whether they met expectations.
"The role of a scientific evaluation is not to legitimise a political reform. Its role is to evaluate it, and the outcome must remain open", he said.
The ministry has argued that the LUCET evaluation is only one of several studies and that the sample of pupils involved is small. The interviewer pointed out that it is the only quantitative evaluation based on standardised testing.
According to Remakel, the findings show neither a deterioration nor an improvement among pupils taking part in the Alpha reform. He accused the government of questioning the sample size now that the results were less favourable, despite relying on similarly small samples when earlier findings were more positive.
Remakel explained that the SNE itself has consistently argued that four pilot schools were not enough to justify nationwide implementation. Instead, he said the reform should have been expanded gradually to additional schools across the country's 15 education regions, particularly where demand and the necessary infrastructure already existed.
He added that the union had also called for the government to wait until children taking part in the pilot reached the end of primary school in cycle 4.2.
According to Remakel, this would have allowed researchers to assess the pupils' entire primary-school trajectory, including whether they had repeated or extended a cycle and how they were ultimately directed towards different secondary-school pathways.
"With such a small sample, we cannot say today whether the reform works or not", he said. "Had we waited until the children reached cycle 4.2 while gradually adding more schools, the sample would have grown and we would have had a much clearer picture."
Remakel stressed that the union was not opposed in principle to teaching children to read and write in French.
He acknowledged positive findings from the pilot schools, including a reported 30% reduction in cycle extensions. Parents of French-speaking children also felt more confident in helping their children with schoolwork.
However, he said it was still too early to know whether those benefits would persist once pupils were increasingly confronted with German later in their education.
"We have always said that literacy instruction in French could definitely be one possible approach. But the Alpha reform should have been implemented differently", Remakel said.
The SNE had also wanted alternative approaches to be explored, including teaching German as a foreign language or the possibility of literacy instruction in Luxembourgish.
According to Remakel, however, Education Minister Claude Meisch had made clear from the outset that the Alpha reform was his chosen approach, leaving little room for changes to the basic model.
Remakel acknowledged that maintaining the status quo was not an option either, given persistent inequalities highlighted in Luxembourg's education reports.
With the reform now approved, Remakel said teachers would do everything possible to make it work and many were already taking part in training.
"The teachers will certainly be ready", he said. "The question is whether parents are ready, because they too will have to make a decision based on limited evidence. And the question is whether the municipalities are ready."
A particular concern is the availability of classrooms. Education Minister Claude Meisch has previously said that around 150 additional rooms are still needed.
Remakel said several municipalities were already considering how they could provide the necessary space within the short timeframe available, warning that construction projects could not simply be completed overnight.
Despite its continuing reservations, the SNE is not calling for a moratorium on the reform. Remakel said the union would instead continue to scrutinise its implementation closely.
"We have followed the reform critically from the very beginning, and we will continue to do so."
