What if the education of our children were to be based on a transmission of essential values and an awareness-raising of the realities of life?
The prime objective of our movement is to change mentalities in order to better prepare the future for the benefit of next generations. To achieve that, we have to reach out to young people and address topics that affect them. We are especially concerned about the present state of the institution that is in charge of preparing them for the future, notably the education system.
The observation we make is that of a system which, in spite of successive reforms, presents no signs of improvement. On the contrary, statistics show a regression in performances, some of which we would like to highlight. Even though the level of failure at school has continuously decreased to reach a level of 12% in 2010, the success rate at the final exam (for students passing their finals without repeating a year) remains vastly inferior to the OECD average. The level of failure of those who choose to pursue studies abroad after passing their finals is even more worrying. Two thirds of students emerging from classical education do not pass their first university year in the subject they chose. One part of them simply fail and the other changes subject over the course of the year.
Are these alarming levels of failure caused by excessively high standards, an inadequate guidance or a problem in the attitude towards effort? There is an element of truth in all three answers and we have to analyse the problems arising from them in order to counteract them.
The present education system has too many illnesses. There is a gap between the multilingual approach in the system and the demographic situation of the country. It is striking that when two thirds of 15 year-olds speak Luxembourgian, the rate is only of one third for three year-olds. What is more worrying is that one thirds of three year-olds speak none of the three official languages. These realities have to be taken into account when we want to combat failure at school and favour integration.
The role of the French language also seems to be problematic. It must be noted that the teaching of French goes well beyond the sole learning of the language itself, but also the discovery of French culture, history and philosophy. The formation of enlightened minds is a good thing, but the exercise becomes counterproductive when the basics of a language are not adequately transmitted and taught. The statistics prove it: over the year 2009/2010, the level of failure in French in classical secondary education for the three first years was higher than the level of failure in all other languages and sciences put together. This negative evolution is translated in the increase of the rate of failure in sciences from the fourth year onwards, the year when French becomes the teaching language in all science subjects. Hence, there is an urgent need to reform the teaching of French in our system. It is better to have minds that are well formed rather than overfilled.
Another problem resulting from successive reforms resides in the reduction of the amount of effort required to pass, which has tendency to make the students partisan to the law of least effort. The education system has become more and more detached from the economy, a tendency that even worries headmasters. Unlike its students, the education system is unable to follow new trends. Informatics courses are inexistent or held on outdated material. This will not impress young people.
International comparisons
The shortcomings of the system are exposed in international comparisons. Luxembourg’s performances in the PISA tests are stable but very disappointing. Our students find themselves below the OECD average in the three areas that are reading, mathematics culture and science culture. The percentage of underperforming students, those who are considered to lack the basic skills required to pursue an apprenticeship or to be able to handle the demands of working life, is above the OECD average in the three categories. These results are all the more disappointing considering the vast resources allocated to the education system, which are greatly above the OECD average and the highest per student. Investing in education is a good thing and a necessity, but we need a system that produces results to match the resources invested. The results also point the finger at the differences in skills levels within the system. These reflect the inequalities in the country. Indeed, students stemming from an affluent background are on average two school years ahead of students coming from poorer backgrounds. This shows the existence of a social divide, which is worrying. The skills gap between Luxembourg nationals and immigrants, which is half a school year on average, shows that integration is far from perfect.
The education system is supposed to enable integration and social inclusion. At the moment, the system is failing and that must change.
Small adjustments and cosmetic reforms are not enough to bring about the change required. A real change in mentalities is necessary which will occur through a change of the values that are transmitted through the school system. We have to pass on to young people a certain taste for risk and an appetite for challenges. We have to form independent individuals who face their problems head-on and do not wait for someone else to take care of them on their behalf. This ubiquitous someone else is often the State. The culture of debate must imperatively make its comeback in our schools, in order to form young people who are capable of defending their ideas, listen to others and be convinced. In short, we need to form dynamic, franc and committed beings. In our modern societies, where these values are less and less transmitted by parents, the education system must fill the gap and take responsibility.
Besides the transmission of values, our education system must reframe its objectives and the means necessary to achieve them. Thereby, the education system has to develop the talents and competences of the students in order to allow everyone to thrive in the area in which he can best develop his skills. The continuous adaptation of the system to the changes in the economic, social and strategic environment of the country is essential. Students must rediscover the feeling of satisfaction for work well carried out as a result of significant effort. We have to restore confidence into students in order to show them that only a proactive attitude allows them to succeed and advance in life. The system has to take into account the weaknesses and difficulties of individuals in order to better counteract them in an inclusive manner. The objective of the system must be to give responsibility to young people, to teach them they have rights, but also obligations. To the question “consumer or citizen?” asked by Moncef Guitoni in 2001 our answer is clearly “citizen”!
There is a gap
In order to counteract the gap between the education system and the economy, we have to bring them together. Thus, we have to open up schools for the representatives, the ideas and the values of entrepreneurship. A closer and more permanent contact with representatives from the economy will allow students to better understand them and at least confront them with the idea to engage into entrepreneurship. Businesses are the engine of our economy and students need to be made aware of that at an early stage of their scholar development. They have to realise that it is of course their right to look for a job, but that every society needs people who create them.
On the basis of these findings and objectives, it is evident that the adaptation of our school system to current and future challenges can only be achieved through a fundamental questioning and a change in mentalities. If our success depends on our ability to create competence niches and centres for excellence, our ambition for the education system has to be the pursuit of excellence. Let us not settle for being part of the OECD average, let us aim for the top. Let us be inspired by the countries who achieve the best results. There is a link between the education systems of Finland, Switzerland, China and Germany and their economic performance. Their reputation founded on quality and innovation finds its source in the school system.
It is not enough to become a host country for innovators; we have to create them as well. In order to achieve that, a reflexion on the content of our school curricula is vital. We must also analyse the style of teaching. If we want to develop children’s sense of curiosity, creativity and initiative, we have to make them participate. A more collegial style at every level in all subjects will allow students to take ownership of the matter. We must abandon magistrate style courses and incessant monologues that lead to rewarding those that best regurgitate processed content.
In order to address the language problem, we could, even though there are significant differences between the two countries, draw on the example of Israel. Their system foresees that every foreigner must first learn the basis of the language of education during a crash course before being allowed to integrate the education system. The benefits of that system are mutual. Indeed, affected students will have less difficulty to follow courses and to integrate their new environment. Teachers will have an easier task and will be able to spend more time with the other students. Society will profit as well as language is the engine of integration.
The concept of multilingualism our system is based on lacks efficiency and return. A return to the basics of learning a language is what we need. First of all, student must learn to read, write and speak a language correctly. In order to awaken the interest of young people in languages, we have to propose them a programme which is closer to current events. New technology has given young people the willingness and the means to express themselves. The education system must feed off that motivation and transform it into results. This is not about demonizing literature and chasing it from the curriculum, it is about giving student the choice to opt into literary streams. Looking at results and apprehensions of students towards the French language, a re-examination of the language of education is necessary. Our system of negative marking merits to be questioned after a detailed analysis of the merits of the systems in place in the best performing countries.
A thorough reform of the education system will not be possible without the buy-in of teachers. Success will depend on their degree of identification with the project and their motivation to make the reform a success as well as the preparation to current and future challenges for all students.