- 2021Design
- 2022Design
- 2023Design
- 2024Design
Background
The need to anticipate demographic change and satisfy sectoral skills demand to ensure the competitiveness and resilience of the Luxembourgish economy has given rise to the 'Skillsdësch', a round table that periodically regroups representatives of the government and of the social partners. More specifically, the following bodies are members of 'Skillsdësch': the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth (MENJE), the Ministry of Research and Higher Education, Ministry of Labour, the Public employment service (ADEM), the Chamber of Skilled Trades and Crafts, the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Agriculture, the Chamber of Employees, and trade unions. Its mission consists in designing a National Skills Strategy, identifying overarching national reform measures, supporting and preparing the tripartite committee's negotiations. It commissioned an OECD-led study, aiming at analysing the state-of-play of the Luxembourgish continuous vocational education and training (CVET)/Adult learning system and developing recommendations.
Objectives
The objectives of the project are to suggest various relevant policy levers for a long-term all-of-government strategy to foster skills development in Luxembourg.
Description
With the tripartite agreement, an objective assessment of the CVET landscape, led by the OECD Centre for Skills was launched. Various stakeholders were consulted to establish recommendations that are tailored to the Luxembourgish context.
The OECD study is part of the 'Skillsdësch' initiative, which regularly regroups high-profile governmental, employee, and employer representatives (the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labour, professional chambers, and trade unions) since Q3 of 2020. The main objectives are to analyse skills needs, be they of transversal or sectoral nature, and to subsequently define a training action plan and determine how to implement it.
The 'Skillsdësch' and the setting up of a national skills strategy pursue the common goal of closing the skills gaps through a long-term strategic approach to continuing vocational education and training (VET).
The strategy focuses on four thematic areas (priority areas):
- providing labour market relevant adult learning opportunities;
- guiding and incentivising skills choices;
- attracting and retaining talent to fill skills shortages;
- strengthening the governance of skills data.
Initially, a questionnaire was launched by the OECD to analyse the state-of-play and provide a framework for the official kick-off event, which was held online in June 2021 and involved all relevant stakeholders. The subsequent four months consisted of establishing an overview of the state-of-play through enquiries that included exchanges with the Luxembourgish national project team (NPT) and bilateral meetings with national stakeholders. This concluded with a workshop-conference at the end of October 2021 where stakeholders brainstormed and exchanged ideas in focus groups. The lessons learnt from these exchanges were used for future recommendations.
In 2022, OECD continued bilateral meetings with stakeholders representing different sectors and institutions, including practitioners, experts, policy makers, employers, trade unions, local authorities, and education and labour market researchers. In April 2022, 130 representatives of ministries and public administration, professional federations and chambers, unions and training organisations discussed, refined and completed the preliminary OECD recommendations of 2021.
The recommendations were structured around four priority strands:
- the creation of continuing vocational training tailored to the labour market;
- measures to promote lifelong learning and upskilling/reskilling;
- talent attraction and retention;
- data governance for skills.
The analyses and recommendations from 2021 and 2022 events were published as the OECD Skills Strategy - Assessment and Recommendations report.
In February 2023, the results of the study and the Skills Strategy - Assessment and Recommendations report were presented by the OECD. The report consists of a series of findings on skills in Luxembourg and recommendations adapted to the specific situation of Luxembourg, which are organised around the four strands that were considered priorities during the implementation of the project. A full report in English has been published, with an abridged version available in English and French.
Conceptual work on the National Skills Strategy continues.
Bodies responsible
- Ministry of Education, Children and Youth
- Ministry of Higher Education and Research
- Ministry of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy (MTEESS)
- Public employment service (ADEM)
- Chamber of Skilled Trades and Crafts
- Chamber of Commerce
- Chamber of Agriculture
- Chamber of Employees
- Trade Unions
Target groups
Learners
- Adult learners
- Low-skilled/qualified persons
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers to the integration of VET into economic, industrial, innovation, social and employment strategies, including those linked to recovery, green and digital transitions, and where VET is seen as a driver for innovation and growth. It includes national, regional, sectoral strategic documents or initiatives that make VET an integral part of broader policies, or applying a mix of policies to address an issue VET is part of, e.g. in addressing youth unemployment measures through VET, social and active labour market policies that are implemented in combination. National skill strategies aiming at quality and inclusive lifelong learning also fall into this sub-category.
This thematic sub-category refers both to formal mechanisms of stakeholder engagement in VET governance and to informal cooperation among stakeholders, which motivate shared responsibility for quality VET. Formal engagement is usually based on legally established institutional procedures that clearly define the role and responsibilities for relevant stakeholders in designing, implementing and improving VET. It also refers to establishing and increasing the degree of autonomy of VET providers for agile and flexible VET provision.
In terms of informal cooperation, the sub-category covers targeted actions by different stakeholders to promote or implement VET. This cooperation often leads to creating sustainable partnerships and making commitments for targeted actions, in line with the national context and regulation, e.g. national alliances for apprenticeships, pacts for youth or partnerships between schools and employers. It can also include initiatives and projects run by the social partners or sectoral organisations or networks of voluntary experts and executives, retired or on sabbatical, to support their peers in the fields of VET and apprenticeships, as part of the EAfA.
Supporting lifelong learning culture and increasing participation
Lifelong learning refers to all learning (formal, non-formal or informal) taking place at all stages in life and resulting in an improvement or update in knowledge, skills, competences and attitudes or in participation in society from a personal, civic, cultural, social or employment-related perspective (Erasmus+, Glossary of terms, https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/programme-guide/part-d/glossary-common-terms). A systemic approach to CVET is crucial to ensure adaptability to evolving demands.
This broad thematic category looks at ways of creating opportunities and ensuring access to re-skilling and upskilling pathways, allowing individuals to progress smoothly in their learning throughout their lives with better permeability between general and vocational education and training, and better integration and compatibility between initial and continuing VET and with higher education. Individuals should be supported in acquiring and updating their skills and competences and navigating easily through education and training systems. Strategies and campaigns that promote VET and LLL as an attractive and high-quality pathway, providing quality lifelong guidance and tailored support to design learning and career paths, and various incentives (financial and non-financial) to attract and support participation in VET and LLL fall into this thematic category as well.
This thematic category also includes many initiatives on making VET inclusive and ensuring equal education and training opportunities for various groups of learners, regardless of their personal and economic background and place of residence – especially those at risk of disadvantage or exclusion, such as persons with disabilities, the low-skilled and low-qualified, minorities, migrants, refugees and others.
This thematic sub-category refers to providing the possibility for individuals who are already in the labour market/in employment to reskill and/or acquire higher levels of skills, and to ensuring targeted information resources on the benefits of CVET and lifelong learning. It also covers the availability of CVET programmes adaptable to labour market, sectoral or individual up- and reskilling needs. The sub-category includes working with respective stakeholders to develop digital learning solutions supporting access to CVET opportunities and awarding CVET credentials and certificates.
European priorities in VET
VET Recommendation
- VET agile in adapting to labour market challenges
- VET as an attractive choice based on modern and digitalised provision of training and skills
- VET promoting equality of opportunities
Osnabrück Declaration
- Resilience and excellence through quality, inclusive and flexible VET
- Establishing a new lifelong learning culture - relevance of continuing VET and digitalisation
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). National skills strategy: Luxembourg. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2024 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/41398