Probably Fine Luxembourg
Community information collecting point for parents in Luxembourg
Types of Schools in Luxembourg
Luxembourg offers a variety of schooling options. The details of flow through the major and minor options, including european, international, local-international, general, technical, vocational, classical, special needs and semi-medical or fully medical routes, are extremely complicated. Any given education pathway can then be modified with part-time support measures such as ‘psychomotricité’, or ‘accompaniement’ for children who are have a diagnosis or are informally judged as being in want of one, or with part-time access to gifted education programmes. Residential options may be medical or correctional in nature or some combination, attendance at boarding schools within Luxembourg may also happen for logistical reasons however this choice is relatively rare compared to nations reputed as education destinations.
The Ministry’s overview of routes and choices covers the nine major pathways.
There is no publicly available data resource at this time which can document standards or outcomes of individual schools or of types of schools.
Whatever you choose for your child, if you are not paying for it then you may find that you have no choice but to accept the offer made by the ministry of education. The government has certain goals and constraints but is not composed entirely of monsters: if you are clear what you need, then there may be some scope to negotiate. For families arriving in Luxembourg it is best to survey the landscape, make a list of first, second, and third choices, then contact the ministry’s placement service which aims to find places.
Public Local Schools
The ‘basic’ Luxembourg public system.
Examples:
- Lycée des Garçons d’Esch-sur-Alzette
- Lycée Guillaume Kroll
- Lycée Belval
Best for:
- Families speaking Luxembourgish or German at home, or in a community with many Luxembourgish or German speakers.
- Families having or hoping for a permanent immersion in Luxembourg.
Public Technical and Vocational Schools
These schools offer practical and professional pathways alongside general education. Many mainstream schools will offer technical or vocational tracks alongside the general secondary streams. The “modulaire” form of vocational education typically includes placements in unskilled or semi-skilled employment such as food preparation or warehouse picking, such that the child will work part-time beginning at an early age and move seamlessly to full time employment (in theory) at the age of 18. The “generale” stream is not as formal or as rigorous as “classique” but nonetheless does permit progress to university if successful.
Examples:
- Lycée Mathias Adam
- LTPS
- Lycées offering technician and apprenticeship tracks
Best for:
- Early employment
- Apprenticeships
- Applied learning
Public Academic Schools (Athénées and Classical Lycées)
Historically the more academic route leading towards university. Traditionally the emphasis here was on languages, even on ancient languages, however science and mathematics are now also taught.
Examples:
- Athénée de Luxembourg
- Lycée Classique de Diekirch
- Lycée Hubert Clément
Best for:
- Excellence in ‘traditional’ school subjects
- University preparation
One of the most eminent of Luxembourgoise scientists, Michel Goedert, attended the Athenée. Complaints from parents (as any school will have) include inflexibility and pettiness, the notion of excellence pursued may tend to be more formal than it is inclusive.
international GCSE at Lycée Michel Lucius (LML)
Lycée Michel Lucius occupies a distinctive position within Luxembourg’s public secondary education landscape as the country’s only state school to offer education compatible with the UK iGCSE qualification (at 16) and Cambridge A levels (at 18). This is highly sought after, firstly as these qualifications are recognised at the many universities worldwide which teach in English, and also due to the modularity and flexibility of the GCSE system relative to the bacculauréate: for GCSE seven to nine subjects are typically selected from a list of more than twenty, permitting students to focus on their strengths. For A-level, 3-4 subjects are selected for deeper specialisation. LML also offers mainstream Luxembourgish public education towards the bacculauréate.
LML is a city centre school and not without its problems. Education in English is highly desired by incoming students from around the world, not only from English-speaking regions, as the globally dominant language of science, scholarship, and business. A consequence of this is that English speaking education communities tend to be highly diverse and may be called upon to accommodate very different attitudes and expectations.
LML Press
In general the press is positive or silent about LML however it is a busy city centre school and problematic incidents do take place
Public International Schools
State-funded schools offering international curricula and often taught partly in English, French, German or potentially some other language. These are recently established and have been much in demand, despite problematic results for the first cohorts to pass through. The most information available is for the oldest of these schools EIDE.
These typically offer a Bacculaureate qualification which permits progress to university (assuming success).
Despite the “international” label these schools have a clear mission to standardise outputs: Luxembourgish is taught, and the language of instruction is typically switched to German or to French progressively for various subjects during the progress from age 5-18, regardless of the first language of the child or their level in the imposed target language.
Due to the multilingual nature of the typical international school intake, language teaching is by “immersion”: the teacher speaks in the foreign language but does not explain it. A useful attitude for students and parents to have is to regard the language teaching at school as supervised ‘language practice’ rather than as a complete resource for language learning.
Examples:
Best for:
- The number one priority for the EI schools is imposition of Luxembourgish identity and propagation of the Luxembourgish language community: for children, taking part in such a programme is not necessarily without benefits however this is also not without costs and should be entered into with open eyes.
Press:
- The teaching community is dissatisfied with being at the sharp end of a mission which often runs counter to their expectations and those of parents and children, and with the frequency of staffing, logistical, and resource problems (which we can hope will resolve themselves as the EI become better established):
Teachers unions complain about governance of international schools
Teachers unions complain about lack of government oversight at international schools
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The management of EI has a quite free hand even relative to the main body of the education system. This has led to incidences of overreach by egotistical characters followed by their denouncement to the police, with consequences which were amusing at least for gossip purposes School director suspended over guns and cocaine.
European Schools
Schools offering the European Baccalaureate. These differ substantially from the state international schools in that they offer education in the child’s own language where it is possible and valuable to do so, for example giving lessons in Spanish or Greek if sufficient numbers of children speaking that language are available. There is a strong ambition to teach second and third languages, however switching of vehicular languages is not pursued as aggressively as at the EI.
Access to these schools is free or subsidised for EU institution employees. For the general public it is costly but not typically as expensive as a fully private education.
Examples:
- European School Luxembourg I
- European School Luxembourg II
Best for:
- EU institution families
- Families with connections or ambitions in Europe
Private International Schools
Privately funded schools using international curricula.
St George’s has taken the unusual step (for Luxembourg) of paying a third party to inspect it, and publish the report of the inspection on their website. They are therefore the most transparent school. tri-annual reports
Examples:
- International School Luxembourg (ISL)
- St George’s
- St Sophie’s
- Studieskolen
Best for:
- Families seeking English-medium education (St George’s)
- Frequent international mobility
Private National Schools
Independent schools operating outside the standard public system.
Examples:
- Lycée Vauban
- Waldorfschoul
- Montessori schools
- École Charlemagne
Best for:
- Alternative pedagogies
- French curriculum
- Religious or educational preferences
Specialised Schools
Schools with a particular educational focus.
Examples:
- Sportlycée
- Conservatoire-linked programmes
- Arts-focused pathways
- Ecole Nationale de Gestion et Commerce (specialised secondary school for business and management)
- Ecole Nationale des Adultes (ENAD) : this valuable resource offers school-level qualifications to adults, with a flexible timetable.
Best for:
- Students with a strong and very specific interest
Boarding Schools and Internats
Luxembourg maintains a number of boarding facilities (internats), primarily for secondary-school pupils. These allow students to attend schools that may be distant from their family home or to benefit from a structured study environment.
Unlike other countries with reputations as education destinations, boarding in Luxembourg is rare and is generally attached to ordinary schools or to crisis/medical/remedial provision, rather than forming a separate elite school sector.