We must not sell out our children’s education

Tackling the shortage of teaching staff in Luxembourg. This is the aim of a new bachelor’s degree in teacher training proposed by the University of Luxembourg and presented at the beginning of March 2023 by Claude Meisch, Minister of National Education, Children and Youth. The new offer looks tempting: a bachelor’s degree in a field related to education, plus an additional year of study to access the teaching profession in cycles 2, 3 and 4 of elementary school.

This new bachelor’s degree will then replace the “Quereinsteiger” program currently in place to address the same shortage. In fact, 5 years ago, according to the Ministry of Education, this program was created to “respond to the shortage of educational science graduates”. However, 5 years later, despite this opening, nothing has changed. Instead of addressing the root causes of the teacher shortage, Minister Meisch introduced a “Quereinsteiger bis”.

With this new bachelor’s degree in teacher education, there will be two ways to become a primary school teacher:

– A Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Luxembourg, including 30 weeks of practical experience working closely with students in all cycles of the école fondamentale.

– A bachelor’s degree in a field related to education, followed by a one-year course called Bachelor en formation pédagogique, with only 6 weeks of internship in two cycles.

Just by comparing the figures, it’s easy to see that this new route is likely to produce teachers less well prepared for the realities of the field, less well trained to face the many challenges of educating future generations. Teachers who, once confronted with the realities of the field, risk leaving the classroom to put their first bachelor’s degree to good use.

This new training also represents a rejection and devaluation of the classical route, which nevertheless produces teachers well equipped to meet the challenges of a multilingual and multicultural school environment.

So instead of putting a sticking plaster on a wooden leg and devaluing the established training, Minister Meisch would do better to take concrete measures to combat the shortage of teachers in Luxembourg. Why are young people no longer interested in teaching? Why are current teachers leaving the profession or only working part-time? These are questions that should have been asked 5 years ago and are still relevant today.

The SEW/OGBL continues to draw attention to the deteriorating working conditions of primary school teachers, between the increasing administrative burden, the perceived lack of support from regional management and the challenge of classroom heterogeneity that teachers have to face without additional resources.

It’s high time to respond to the teacher shortage, but with respect for current teachers and Bachelor of Education students!

Press release of the Education and Science Syndicate (SEW) of the OGBL,
March 20, 2023