One of the most unique aspects of the Luxembourg education system is that it is trilingual. Luxembourg has fully integrated three languages into education: Luxembourgish, German, and French.

Students begin their pre-primary education learning in Luxembourgish. When students continue on to primary education, they transition to education fully in German, until lower secondary school. Upon arrival to upper secondary school, students’ education continues entirely in French, with English as a language subject option.

“As a consequence, Luxembourg has the highest share of students who do not speak the language of instruction at home and the highest number of foreign languages learnt per student. The annual taught time for foreign languages exceeds those of all other countries” (Eurypedia, 2013)

For further information on the results of Luxembourg’s trilingual system in terms of educational inequity and the marginalization of immigrant students, please refer to my page on Equity, Access, and Diversity

Sources:

Eurypedia (2013). Luxemboug: Overview. In Eurypedia. retrieved from https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/eurydice/index.php/Luxembourg:Overview