Guidance System in Luxembourg

OVERVIEW

In Luxembourg, guidance refers to a series of activities that help citizens at any time of their lives to identify their capabilities, skills and interests. This allows them to make well-informed decisions concerning their choice of studies and trainings as well as their professional activities, with the purpose of serving their personal development and the development of society. This definition embeds the concept of career management skills.

Different entities contribute to support guidance at national level : educational and public employment services, social partners, private and non-profit organisations.

In 2012, several public services had been gathered in one single site and in 2017, to improve the coordination of guidance counselling, a national guidance centre was officially created asMaison de l’orientation.

POLICY

The bill on the organisation of the Maison de l’orientation and providing for the creation of a Coordination Service for it (Service de coordination de la Maison de l’orientation) was passed in the Parliament in 2017. It provides a legal basis for a Guidance Forum gathering all political stakeholders, social partners and institutions concerned by guidance matters and whose mission is to advise and coordinate the services offered by the Maison de l’orientation and its partners.

A national reference framework for educational and vocational guidance lays down the minimal standards to be respected by secondary schools during the implementation of their educational and vocational career counselling. It is also used to structure, guide and evaluate all the actions and initiatives taken in the counselling process. The main goal is to provide the best possible guidance to students, especially in transition.

While the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth is in charge of day-to-day management of the Maison de l’orientation, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Ministry of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy are also responsible for guidance issues.

SERVICES AND PRACTICE

Through its one-stop shop, the Maison de l’orientation brings together all the public authorities and services in charge of assisting people in shaping their career paths:

Ministry of Education, Children and Youth:

• Centre for Psycho-Social and Educational Accompaniment (Centre psycho-social et d’accompagnement scolaires – CePAS). The CePAS offers guidance interviews and support for young people and their families. It provides young people with the methods and knowledge enabling them to develop their ability to be responsible and independent. It teaches them self-guidance so that they become able to build their own personal development and career plans.

• National Youth Service (Service National de la Jeunesse - SNJ) – Luxembourg Local Youngsters Antenna. Through its regional offices, the SNJ offers concrete opportunities for young people to gather practical experience in voluntary service projects. The local Antenna for Youngsters (Antenne locale pour jeunes) is a department of the National Youth Service that offers individual guidance in drawing up and carrying out a professional project, during the transitional phase, between school and the labour market.

• Department for Schooling of Foreign Children (Service de scolarité des enfants étrangers - SECAM). The SECAM is for young people between the ages of 12 and 24 who have recently moved to the Grand Duchy and wish to enter the school system to continue their studies. The SECAM also provides assistance to teachers, as well as intercultural mediation.

• Department of Adult Education (Service de la formation des adultes – SFA). This department supports adults seeking advice and information on adult learning in general and adults wishing to improve their basic literacy, numeracy and ICT skills.

• Agency for transition to independence (Agence pour la transition vers une vie autonome – ATVA). The agency offers support to young people with special needs aged 15 to 29 by accompanying and supporting them and their families according to their life project, whether by work placement, vocational training or job search.

Ministry of Higher Education and Research:

• Higher Education Information Service (Service Information Etudes Supérieures) The service offers advice and information on higher education in Luxembourg and abroad.

Ministry of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy:

• Vocational Guidance Service of Public Employment services PES (Service d’orientation professionnelle de l’Agence pour le développement de l’emploi - ADEM OP). This service body offers job guidance interviews and information sessions for young people and adults on how to choose an appropriate job. This service is in charge of apprenticeship placements for youngsters and adults.

On a local level, in each secondary school, a Guidance Unit (Cellule d’orientation) is responsible for the guidance approach set out in the school's development plan in accordance with the reference framework for educational and vocational guidance. The guidance unit works together with the Service for Psycho-Social and Educational Accompaniment (Service psycho-social et d’accompagnement scolaires – SePAS), a team of psychologist(s), social worker(s), educator(s) and teacher(s) offering individual career counselling to students (post-primary education) and their families.

Furthermore, teachers and social pedagogues from the Local Antenna for Youngsters (ALJ) work in the preparatory section of secondary schools in order to accompany the pupils’ transition from school to apprenticeship or labour market. On a regional level and outside schools, ALJ also offers a personalised accompaniment of young people during the transition period between school and work, as well as support in the realisation of educational/vocational projects for young NEETS.

The Vocational Guidance Service of public employment service (ADEM OP) also offers individual and collective career counselling and vocational guidance on a regional level for youngsters and adults who are looking for an appropriate profession or training.

TRAINING

In Luxembourg, counsellors who work in the field of guidance generally have either a bachelor’s degree in social and educational sciences, a master's degree in psychology or in social sciences and educational sciences. In each secondary school, teachers as well as members of psycho-social services, contribute to educational and vocational guidance.

Guidance practitioners acquire their specific skills through in-service or continuous training organised in accordance with the reference framework for educational and vocational guidance, by the National Education Institute of Training (IFEN) and the different partners of the Guidance Center, such as the Centre for Psycho-Social and Educational Accompaniment, the Public Employment Service or private training institutions.

Since 2018, the IFEN and the SCMO continuously develop and improve the training offer for guidance practitioners in schools. Two main offers that aim to contribute to developing the quality of guidance in secondary schools are:

• A university level course for guidance coordinators in secondary schools based on an international curriculum on the coordination of careers education and guidance in schools, developed by PHNÖ (Austria) and Luxembourg’s Maison de l’orientation. It covers a wide range of subjects that are important for guidance coordinators in secondary schools (basic knowledge on careers education and guidance; project management, change management, communication etc.) and has a workload corresponding to 10 ECTS. The first group of participants started the training in 2020. In their role as guidance coordinators, the graduates will be able to share their knowledge and insights within their schools.

• A modular offer for guidance practitioners in schools: the modular offer has also been developed with support of the same partner and is implemented gradually.
  • a “Basic Module: Fundamentals of careers education and guidance”
  • advanced modules on individual counselling interviews, on careers education and guidance in the classroom, and about labour market and educational pathways.

The Maison de l’orientation, through its coordination service, has also been offering since 2018 as a part of the guidance counsellor training plan, a whole series of other training courses and study visit possibilities.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Currently there is no national research centre specialised in guidance questions. However, studies are often commissioned by the different guidance services in order to evaluate the impact of their work and their counselling methods.

University of Luxembourg:

• Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE)

• The Luxembourg Centre for Educational Testing (LUCET) is a research and transfer centre focused on the elaboration and use of assessment and measurement for the educational field.
• Institute Education, Culture, Cognition & Society (ECCS)

Studies on youth and education in Luxembourg, carried out by the University of Luxembourg, tend to inform i.a. about aspects relating to guidance.

• National Report on the situation of youth in Luxembourg
• National Report on education

In 2017, a study on “NEETs” in Luxembourg has been published by the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economical Research and the SNJ.

A collection of studies on youth in Luxembourg is available here.

Thematic reports carried out by the Observatoire de la qualité scolaire, in cooperation with the University of Luxembourg, also refers to guidance related activities at national level.

ETHICS

Guidance counsellors work according to the code of deontology inherent in their profession and the guidance service they belong to.

For further information, you may consult Cedefop's European inventory of lifelong guidance systems and practices – Luxembourg.