Apprenticeship System

Competences

The Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg is a constitutional monarchy functioning as a parliamentary democracy with no division into federal or regional competences. Only one central administration exists. The Ministry of Education, Children and Youth (Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, de l’Enfance et de la Jeunesse, MENJE) is responsible for VET and all other types of education and child care except for higher education. In cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy (Ministère du Travail, de l’Emploi et de l’Économie Sociale et Solidaire, MTE), it is also responsible for training measures for the unemployed.

Higher education lies in the responsibility of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research (Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, MESR).

 

History of the apprenticeship system

The apprenticeship system has been regulated for the first time in 1929, with constant evolution in 1945, 1979 and 1990. The VET system in Luxembourg is inspired from the German dual system and is organised similarly.

A major VET reform has been voted on the 12th July 2019, setting the legal basis for apprenticeships and revising the initial Vocational Training Reform Act of 2008.
It is noteworthy that in 2019, the provisions concerning the apprenticeship contract and the legal rights and duties of apprentices were included in the Labour Code.
Other revisions concern evaluation and contract extension: To better inform students and parents about their progress, semi-annual reports are based on competences; yet an additional evaluation by grades was re-introduced.

The initial reform act of 2008 brought changes in the description of the VET programmes (learning outcomes), the structure of the courses (units and modules instead of subjects) and also in the assessment of the learnings (competence-based assessment).

 

The image of VET and apprenticeship in society

After having accomplished the primary education at the age of 12, children are oriented, depending on their results and capacities, towards general secondary education or into technical secondary education. Vocational education and training is included and provided by the technical secondary schools. The VET and more specifically the apprenticeship system is mostly seen by the society as a social and educational setback of the student. VET programmes are seen as second choice pathways for learners that do not have access to other learning pathways. General secondary studies which lead to an access to academic studies are generally considered to be the more prestigious choice. This is partly a consequence of the structure of the labour market where the biggest demand is for highly qualified profiles with academic degrees (tertiary economy).

 

Overall apprenticeship policy

The MENJE and the professional chambers develop the standards for VET together. Thus, there is a direct link to the actual needs of the labour market, through the development of curricula, based on labour market standards and the qualifications needed by Luxembourgish companies. The partnership with the social partners, which is stipulated by the VET law, results in the development of high-quality VET programmes.

The Luxembourgish VET system has three main features aiming at reducing failures and drop-outs from VET:

• teaching by units and modules replaces teaching by subjects. Each module is focused on concrete professional situations;
• for each module, the competences (learning outcomes) to be acquired are defined;
• assessment and certification in apprenticeship are based on the learning outcomes. The acquisition of the competences is assessed and documented for each module

 

Apprentices, Companies and VET schools involved in apprenticeship

For the school year 2021-2022, among the 21533 pupils registered in the upper secondary levels, nearly one third opted for vocational training.

Learners in vocational programmes leading to CCP, DAP and DT represented 45,8 % of the population of medium and upper cycles of technical secondary education in 2021/2022. Of a total of 7348 learners in IVET, 551 were following a CCP programme under apprenticeship. 3903 learners were registered in programmes leading to a DAP diploma, of which 2861 learners (73,3%) under apprenticeship. 2894 learners participated in programmes leading to technician’s diploma (DT). DT programs are mainly school-based or mixed tracks (combining one to three years of school-based learning with one or two years of dual learning). A share of 120 learners (4.1 %) were under apprenticeship contract leading to a DT in 2021/2022 (Service de la formation professionnelle, 2022).