The lie of European public schools

On July 7, 2023, the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth finally presented the preliminary results of a study on European public schools carried out by researchers from the Luxembourg Center for Educational Testing (LUCET) at the University of Luxembourg and the Service de Coordination de la Recherche et de l’Innovation pédagogiques et technologiques (SCRIPT). Unsurprisingly, and not surprisingly, the results are positive.

Created in 2016, these schools have mushroomed all over Luxembourg. As an integral part of the initial concept, success was pre-programmed, even if it meant using every possible means to highlight it: as recently indicated in an answer to a parliamentary question (QP 8025), the so-called success has already been measured thanks to growing enrollments, the Ministry having refused any kind of comparison with the traditional school system.

Launched with great fanfare, this new study attempts to prove that European state schools are effective in reducing educational inequalities, thus proving their success, if proof were needed. But as always, the devil is in the details, and the interpretation of the data leaves us puzzled. The fact that students enrolled in European state schools tend to come from more privileged socio-economic backgrounds should show that these schools have failed to reduce educational inequalities.

In fact, according to the French Ministry of Education, state European schools were supposed to reduce inequality by offering a less demanding, more flexible language program. That’s why the first European public school opened its doors in Differdange, a commune with one of the lowest average household incomes in Luxembourg.

By 2022, however, ONQS warned: “By integrating a few European schools into the public offer, education policy is transferring part of the social responsibility to a parallel school system, [which] risks leading to a fragmentation of the educational landscape and to social segregation.” This fragmentation of the educational landscape has indeed had an impact on the quality of education in Luxembourg.

This fragmentation of the educational landscape has indeed taken place with the multiplication of European public schools, which has further increased the complexity of school guidance. What’s more, this alternative tends to favor wealthier households: the study presented on July 7 shows that the European public schools serve a majority of students from more advantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

The same ONQS report also points out that “inequalities exist and are transmitted even before schooling. [The link between family poverty and the loss of educational opportunities is well established”. If state schools in Europe are less unequal, it’s because they are recruited from a more socio-economically affluent section of the population, creating greater homogeneity and therefore fewer inequalities from the outset. One of the keys to success?

According to a recent study, students in European public schools are less likely to fall behind academically. But even this finding is questionable. In fact, the grading system is different from anything previously known. It is based on an A and a B grade: the A grade reflects the student’s daily work, i.e. concentration in class, positive attitude to the subject, doing homework. The B grade is made up of the average grade of the homework done in class. These two grades are equally weighted: class participation and a neat notebook are therefore just as important as grades for knowledge acquisition. Under these conditions, it’s easy to pass the year, which explains the almost 100% success rate in the baccalauréat!

It’s also worth mentioning that the study of the Ministry of Education compares the European Schools with all Luxembourg schools (primary and secondary, from the former “modular” preparatory education to the classical education). This comparison leads to the erroneous conclusion that the European Schools achieve better results than schools in the Luxembourg school system. It should be noted that at the secondary level, the results of the classical education are better than those of the European public schools. It is also important to note that this study is based solely on mathematical skills and does not take into account the language skills of students in the European schools and the Luxembourg school system. Indeed, it seems that the Minister is concerned about the results of a comparison of the language skills of pupils in the European Schools and those in the Luxembourg school system.

In their report on the study in question, the authors are at some point forced to admit the limitations of their study, in particular the small number of students at the end of the European curriculum. On the other hand, this does not seem to detract in any way from communicating the desired success of state-run European schools. Comparing the incomparable and ignoring the origins of social inequalities does not, it seems, in any way detract from the predetermined “success story”.

But on closer inspection, European public schools do nothing to reduce educational inequalities in the population. Worse, they tend to increase social segregation and thus undermine social cohesion in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The presentation, with great fanfare, of a study designed to support the predestined success has failed to deceive the vast majority of the population. Instead of continuing to promote new state-run European Schools with a lot of money and publicity, the Minister of Education would be better advised to strengthen the regular school system in order to have, as promised, a school for all.

Press release of the OGBL Education and Science Syndicate (SEW)
July 13, 2023