Aiming towards more equal opportunities? Analyzing the implementation of the plurilingual education policy in the non-formal early childhood education and care sector in Luxembourg

The plurilingual education policy in Luxembourg stands out as one of the pioneering multilingual policies in early childhood education that goes beyond a bilingual approach implemented in other countries. On this basis, given that investment in early childhood education and care aims to tackle social and origin-related inequalities and that educational inequalities in Luxembourg are frequently attributed to multilingualism, promoting children’s language development is at the centre of early childhood. This interdisciplinary research project fills a significant research gap in the social science fields of policy implementation and early childhood by focusing on the aspect of implementation in relation to educational inequalities. This study answers the following research questions: (I) how is the plurilingual education policy implemented in the Luxembourgish non-formal early childhood education and care sector, and (II) what is the salience of the aspect of reducing educational inequalities.
The theoretical lenses employed in this study encompass concepts relevant to both aspects of the study. On the one hand, (I) the coupling theory, theory of planned behavior, and theory of habitus and field, and, on the other hand, (II) the reproduction of educational inequality, linguistic capital theory, and theory of social and ethnic origin.
By using a mixed methods design, examining both policy and practice levels provides a holistic perspective on the plurilingual education policy implementation in Luxembourg. Methods include a policy document analysis of the plurilingual education program, expert interviews with policy-level stakeholders, and a cross-sectional survey with early childhood practitioners in the non-formal education sector.
The main findings of this research shed light on sectorial differences at policy and practice levels, leading to ambiguities in policy goals and implementation measures, as well as challenges encountered during policy implementation. The results indicate a lack of an epistemological approach in the policy, regarding the linguistic and organizational diversity within the Luxembourgish mixed economy of early childhood education and care. Concerns arise regarding the goal of promoting more equal opportunities, as the policy may – according to the findings – still provide greater benefits to Luxembourgish-speaking children rather than to other ethnic groups. The research thus highlights the importance of developing multilingual policies that consider the diverse linguistic and organizational contexts, in order to ensure a more successful policy in practice implementation as well as more equal educational opportunities for all children.