Berufsausbildung in Luxemburg: historische Ursprünge, institutionelle Struktur und aktuelle Herausforderungen

Luxembourg has a well differentiated and highly complex national vocational training system. Like many other countries, Luxembourg has a binary secondary education system, consisting of the largely institutionally separate areas of classical general education (secondaire générale) and rather more practical vocational training (secondaire technique). In the school year 2012–2013, there were 12,958 pupils enrolled in general secondary education (33%) and 26,627 in technical secondary education (67%).
In the Luxembourg vocational education system at least four different qualifications can be distinguished; these are associated with very different possibilities for routes to subsequent education, such as access to higher education or training as a master craftsman. As compared to the other options, the régime technique provides the best opportunity to start university studies or, after one year of vocational training, to begin to train as a master craftsman. Of particular interest at the moment is the 2008 reform of vocational training, which is being implemented in stages between 2010 and 2015 and which is focusing more on skills and work processes, providing a more modular structure to the training and a more systematic combination of on-the-job- and school-based learning phases.
International influences on the Luxembourg vocational training system are visible at different levels: first, the Luxembourg system itself contains elements of the dual German system and the more school-orientated and predominantly state-organised French system. Secondly, international cooperation with neighbouring countries – especially cross-border dual training – is essential because of the country's small size and the small number of qualified vocational trainers. Thirdly, the predominantly German-speaking Luxembourg vocational training system faces major challenges because of the high proportion of immigrants. It is clear that the Luxembourg system contains a certain degree of 'mix-and-match' of different elements and educational principles, which contribute to the strong separation between different pathways in secondary education.
The vocational and practical training must not be a dead end for academically talented but linguistically disadvantaged pupils with an immigrant background, nor must vocational training be educationally unattractive for practically inclined and talented Luxembourgers for reasons of prestige. In order to formulate appropriate solutions in the context of these inequality-related problems, more international comparative research seems inevitable.
An additional area for in-depth analysis is assessing the impact of the reform of 2008 on vocational training. Currently, it is not clear what lies behind a number of potentially problematic developments within the system. For example, there needs to be discussion on whether the modularisation measures have led to an unintended fragmentation of vocational training, which would be contrary to the principles and uniformity of the various professions. In this context, there is also the question of how the number of modules could be reduced.