Early Childhood Education and Care in Luxembourg and Language: Performance Closing the Gap between different Language Backgrounds?

Scientific Conference (2023, August 21)

Achievement gaps between students of different family backgrounds have been found in many countries (e.g. Stanat & Christensen, 2006). They are not only based on socioeconomic status or immigration ... [more ▼]

Achievement gaps between students of different family backgrounds have been found in many countries (e.g. Stanat & Christensen, 2006). They are not only based on socioeconomic status or immigration background, but also on home language: If children do not speak the language of instruction at home, they are often disadvantaged in school and perform worse in school performance tests than students speaking the instruction language at home (e.g. Van Staden et al., 2016). Low SES increases the risk that children with an L2 instruction language are disadvantaged (Cummins, 2018). With rising numbers of global migration (Edmond, 2020), these disparities in educational systems can be expected to become more distinct in the future. Luxembourg is a trilingual country with an already highly diverse student population in terms of nationality and language background, with 67 % of elementary school students not speaking the first instruction language Luxembourgish at home (MENJE & SCRIPT, 2022). It is therefore a prime example to study these educational challenges ahead of time. In addition to the “super-diversity” of Luxembourg, students of different language backgrounds have to deal with a highly demanding language curriculum at school, in which the instruction language switches first from Luxembourgish to German and then to French in secondary education. In consequence, many students face challenges in acquiring language and literacy skills (e.g. Hornung et al., 2021) – leading to distinct gaps between students of different language backgrounds. One possible way to decrease such disparities might be an early and extensive participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC). Participation in ECEC, that is “any regulated arrangement that provides education and care to children from birth to compulsory primary school age” (European Commission, n.d.), has been shown to have positive effects on language development and other cognitive abilities. These effects differ between age groups. For young children from age 0 to 3, a Norwegian study found that scaling up early ECEC improved early language skills at the age of seven (Drange & Havnes, 2015). However, a review also indicated research on this age group was scarcer and produced more varied findings (Melhuish et al., 2015). For children between the ages 3 and 6, effects on language and other cognitive skills were more consistently positive (Melhuish et al., 2015). In children with differing home language backgrounds, this association was stronger than in those who spoke the majority language at home (Ansari et al., 2021). This study aims to investigate if these findings hold in the multilingual and diverse school context of Luxembourg and to analyze the effects of ECEC attendance on language performance, differentiated by the student’s home language background and the particular type of ECEC (non-formal daycare vs formal early education). Based on the presented literature, we hypothesize that (1) participation in ECEC, formal and nonformal, is associated with higher listening comprehension in Luxembourgish (i.e. the first instruction language) in grade 1, that (2) the associations are moderated by the children home language background where greater associations are expected for children who do not speak the instruction language at home and that (3) participation in formal ECEC explains more variance than participation in nonformal ECEC. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used To answer our research questions, we draw on a large-scale dataset of n = 5.952 first graders from the Luxemburg school monitoring programme ÉpStan (Épreuves Standardisées) in 2021. The ÉpStan includes questionnaires and written competence tests in key school areas that are implemented every year for all Luxembourgish students in grades 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. Its aim is a.o. to objectively assess the long-term performance of the Luxembourgish school system. For our study, we focus on Luxembourg listening comprehension in grade 1, which is assessed with different text formats, such as dialogues, short stories or radio broadcasts presented on CDs. The test is measuring different sub-skills, defined by the national curriculum, such as understanding one’s interlocutor, locating, understanding and interpreting information, and applying listening strategies (recognition of noises and voices). Information on ECEC participation is assessed retrospectively in parent questionnaires for crèches (non-formal ECEC targeted at 0-4 year olds) and for précoce (formal ECEC, targeted at 3 year olds). Home language background is assessed by self-report in the student questionnaire and categorised into five groups: a) Luxembourgish, b) French, c) Portuguese, d) bilingual Luxembourgish / French and e) bilingual Luxembourgish / Portuguese. After checking whether the prerequisites for the analyses are met, we calculate a multivariate regression model with the two ECEC types as binary predictors and other family background variables as control for hypothesis (1). For hypothesis (2), we test whether home language background moderates the association between ECEC and language performance by adding interaction terms of home language group with each ECEC type to our regression model. For hypothesis (3), we compare the incremental variance explained by each ECEC type. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings We expect our outcomes to show that attendance in both ECEC types have positive associations with Luxembourgish listening comprehension in first grade, in line with many findings on the topic. Additionally, attendance in formal ECEC is expected to explain more variance in Luxembourgish listening comprehension than attendance in nonformal ECEC as Luxembourgish is the main instruction language in formal ECEC. In nonformal ECEC institutions, language policies are usually less rigid and more plurilingual. We also expect significant moderations of this effect by home language background: We do not expect a strong effect of both formal and nonformal ECEC on listening comprehension for children who speak only Luxembourgish at home, as they are expected to have developed these skills at home. Children who do not speak Luxembourgish at home are, on the other hand, expected to benefit more from ECEC attendance. This would then indicate that more time spent in ECEC institutions fostered their basic skills in the instruction language and helped gain better listening performance. Being competent in the instruction language is essential for further learning. Without the language skills, children are unable to connect to the school’s input (Schleppegrell, 2001). All in all, the findings might help to understand the effects of two different ECEC types in Luxembourg for children of different language backgrounds – indicating for whom ECEC attendance should be explicitly encouraged. It might also give us valuable hints towards characteristics of ECEC that are especially helpful to further language skills and thus, later school performance. Implications on possible policy decisions with the goal of closing achievement gaps and furthering educational equality will be discussed. References Ansari, A., Pianta, R. C., Whittaker, J. E., Vitiello, V., & Ruzek, E. (2021). Enrollment in public-prekindergarten and school readiness skills at kindergarten entry: Differential associations by home language, income, and program characteristics. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 54, 60–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2020.07.011 Cummins, J. (2018). Urban Multilingualism and Educational Achievement: Identifying and Implementing Evidence-Based Strategies for School Improvement. In P. Van Avermaet, S. Slembrouck, K. Van Gorp, S. Sierens, & K. Maryns (Eds.), The Multilingual Edge of Education (p. 67–90). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54856-6_4 Drange, N., & Havnes, T. (2015). Child Care Before Age Two and the Development of Language and Numeracy: Evidence from a Lottery. Discussion Papers. Statistics Norway. Research Department., 808. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2582539 Edmond, C. (2020, January 10). Global migration, by the numbers. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/iom-global-migration-report-international-migrants-2020/ European Commission. (n.d.). Early childhood education and care initiatives. Retrieved 23rd May 2022, from https://education.ec.europa.eu/node/1702 Hornung, C., Wollschläger, R., Keller, U., Esch, P., Muller, C., & Fischbach, A. (2021). Neue längsschnittliche Befunde aus dem nationalen Bildungsmonitoring ÉpStan in der 1. und 3. Klasse. Negativer Trend in der Kompetenzentwicklung und kein Erfolg bei Klassenwiederholungen. In LUCET & SCRIPT (Eds.), Nationaler Bildungsbericht Luxemburg 2021 (p. 44–55). LUCET & SCRIPT. Melhuish, E., Ereky-Stevens, K., Petrogiannis, K., Ariescu, A., Penderi, E., Rentzou, K., Tawell, A., Leseman, P., & Broekhuisen, M. (2015). A review of research on the effects of early childhood education and care (ECEC) on child development [Technical Report.]. MENJE & SCRIPT. (2022). Education system in Luxembourg. Key Figures. edustat.lu Schleppegrell, M. J. (2001). Linguistic Features of the Language of Schooling. Linguistics and Education, 12(4), 431–459. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0898-5898(01)00073-0 Stanat, P., & Christensen, G. (2006). Where Immigrant Students Succeed—A Comparative Review of Performance and Engagement in PISA 2003. https://www.oecd.org/education/school/programmeforinternationalstudentassessmentpisa/whereimmigrantstudentssucceed-acomparativereviewofperformanceandengagementinpisa2003.htm Van Staden, S., Bosker, R., & Bergbauer, A. (2016). Differences in achievement between home language and language of learning in South Africa: Evidence from prePIRLS 2011. South African Journal of Childhood Education, 6(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajce.v6i1.441 [less ▲]

Early childhood education and care in Luxembourg. Attendance and associations with early learning performance.

Report (2023)

Luxembourg’s student population is highly diverse in terms of language and family background and shows disparities in learning performances as early as first grade (Cycle 2.1). Achievement gaps might be ... [more ▼]

Luxembourg’s student population is highly diverse in terms of language and family background and shows disparities in learning performances as early as first grade (Cycle 2.1). Achievement gaps might be increased by the high language demands in the traditional Luxembourgish school system. Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) including for instance crèche, précoce and Cycle 1, is one of the possible mechanisms to reduce these gaps that is currently discussed by researchers, policy makers, and the broad public. A lot of international literature points towards a positive association of ECEC and child development. However, findings vary widely with characteristics of ECEC, as well as characteristics of children and their families. For this report, we used data from the Luxembourg School Monitoring Programme “ÉpStan” from 2015 to 2021 including students’ learning performances in three domains in Cycle 2.1 – Luxembourgish listening comprehension, early literacy, mathematics – as well as student and parent questionnaire data. Additionally, data from ÉpStan 2022 on German and Luxembourgish listening comprehension and students’ language exposure at home are presented. Who attends which type of ECEC in Luxembourg? We find that the attendance in ECEC is generally high. On average, crèches were attended at a moderate level of intensity and duration. Family background (socioeconomic status, migration background and home language group) interacts in a complex way with attendance in ECEC. For example, children from families with a high socioeconomic status speaking Portuguese or French at home, attended crèche for more hours a week than children from families with a high socioeconomic status speaking Luxembourgish at home. In regard to language exposure in ECEC, Luxembourgish appears to play a dominant role for most children. How are ECEC attendance and family background associated with learning performance in Cycle 2.1? Most importantly, non-formal (crèche) and formal types of ECEC (précoce, Cycle 1) have positive but small to moderate associations with learning performance in the three learning domains. Looking at crèche attendance in more detail, effects of crèche intensities are different for Portuguese speaking and Luxembourgish speaking children – i.e., only Portuguese speaking children benefit from higher intensity attendance in crèche. As can be expected, all children benefit most in their Luxembourgish listening comprehension if they attended a crèche in which Luxembourgish was spoken. Well-known performance disparities in the three learning domains between children of different backgrounds have been confirmed – with advantages for native, Luxembourgish speaking children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. Is the pattern of differences between children of different home language groups the same in Luxembourgish and German listening comprehension? Children’s performances in German listening comprehension show even larger disparities between home language groups than those in Luxembourgish listening comprehension. This argues against the assumption of a transfer from Luxembourgish to German language skills for all children. Conclusively, this report points towards ECEC as a key adjustable parameter to improve learning development and concludes with the call to collect data on ECEC quality. Structural (e.g., child-caregiver-ratio) and procedural (e.g., characteristics of interaction) aspects of quality should be regulated and systematically evaluated to ensure positive child development and equal opportunities for every child. With more monitoring data on diverse quality aspects and language practices in ECEC, important insights on the effects of new reforms in the educational system could be gained. Additionally, the present results reveal a significant negative relationship between children’s learning performance and a previous allongement de cycle in Cycle 1, calling for a thorough revision of this frequently used procedure. Finally, the continuity between languages in ECEC and the successive schooling is important. This alignment is currently not ensured due to more flexible language policies in ECEC and more rigid language practices in formal schooling. For example, the plurilingual education in ECEC promoting Luxembourgish and French, could build a solid basis for a French literacy acquisition, yet explicit promotion of the current instruction language of reading and writing acquisition, German, in Cycle 2 is still missing. A crucial demand therefore arises to revise the language demands in the curricula and policies – to continuously support ECEC’s plurilingual education in formal schooling (e.g., European and international schools or French literacy acquisition) and to explicitly promote German in ECEC to build a solid basis for literacy acquisition in German. [less ▲]

Neue Erkenntnisse zu den Lesegewohnheiten luxemburgischer Schülerinnen und Schüler

Poster (2023, February 23)

Do your magic, Harry Potter! popular fiction books and their impact on students’ reading performances

Poster (2022, November 10)

Previous surveys on the reading habits of Luxembourgish secondary school students (conducted within the framework of the national school monitoring programme Épreuves Standardisées (ÉpStan) in 2016 and ... [more ▼]

Previous surveys on the reading habits of Luxembourgish secondary school students (conducted within the framework of the national school monitoring programme Épreuves Standardisées (ÉpStan) in 2016 and 2019) revealed better reading comprehension results in French and German for those students who frequently read printed narrative texts in their leisure time. However, these studies only focused on different reading modes and text types. They did not investigate which digital and/or printed books students actually read for pleasure, nor which text features determine the positive impact narrative texts have on their reading performances: Is it, for example, the language quality, the richness and complexity of content, or simply the amount of written language they need to process? Therefore, we conducted an explorative follow-up survey within the framework of ÉpStan 2020 and asked secondary school students (Grade 7: n=3055; Grade 9: n=5781) to indicate up to three book titles – printed and e-books respectively – they had read in their leisure time. Despite the omnipresence of digital media, preliminary findings show that both age groups prefer paper-based reading activities when reading longer texts (or books) for pleasure. Nevertheless, the most popular text types and book titles are the same for printed books and e-books: Among them, we find the novel series “Harry Potter”, the rather comic-like book series “Gregs Tagebuch”, and the mangas from the “Naruto”/“Boruto” series. The linkage between students’ leisure time reading activities and their ÉpStan reading performances will be drawn, and some first linguistic text analyses of extracts from the most popular book titles will be conducted in order to reveal some of the text features that foster reading comprehension skills. [less ▲]

School Segregation in Primary and Secondary Education in Luxembourg: Track Placement and Academic Achievement

Scientific Conference (2022, November 09)

Known as a highly stratified education system with early tracking (similar to Dutch, German, Austrian, and German-speaking Swiss systems), Luxembourg features additional properties that add to its ... [more ▼]

Known as a highly stratified education system with early tracking (similar to Dutch, German, Austrian, and German-speaking Swiss systems), Luxembourg features additional properties that add to its complexity in the educational realm (Backes & Hadjar, 2017). It is a simultaneously multilingual system that also has the largest share of students born outside of Luxembourg or parents born abroad. While most migrants come from within Europe, they frequently come from either a particularly high or low socio-economic background. It has been scientifically established that the educational inequalities in Luxembourg are driven mostly by social origin and immigration/language background. Gender is another critical dimension of disadvantage; for example, boys are less motivated to obtain higher education than girls (Hadjar, Scharf, & Hascher, 2021). In addition, gender often intersects with other factors such as immigrant background in shaping disadvantages. However, evidence shows that – beyond individual background characteristics – schools’ social composition also perpetuates inequalities in student achievement (Martins & Veiga, 2010). Therefore, we focus on the role of school-level segregation on student’s academic outcomes over time using data of a longitudinal cohort from the School Monitoring Programme (Éprueve Standardisée (ÉpStan)) with 5097 students in Grade 3 observed in 2013 and later in Grade 9 observed in 2019 (regular pathways) and 2020 and 2021 (irregular pathways, i.e., class repetitions). School segregation is an aggregate measure of the proportion of students who belong to low socio-economic background and the proportion of students born abroad and/or do not speak instruction language at home. Our contribution aims to provide insights into the following questions: 1. Does school-level segregation in primary education (G3) predict student’s track placement in secondary education? 2. Does school-level segregation in primary education (G3) predict student’s math and German achievement in secondary education (G9)? 3. How strongly are achievement outcomes in G9 correlated with within- and between-track segregation in G9? The findings will serve as a complementary base for tailored policy making with respect to the long-term impact of school composition for teaching and learning, especially within a tracked school system. References Becker, S., & Hadjar, A. (2017). Educational trajectories through secondary education in Luxembourg: How does permeability affect educational inequalities? Schweizerische Zeitschrift Für Bildungswissenschaften, 39(3), 437–460. https://doi.org/10.25656/01:16659 Hadjar, A., Scharf, J., & Hascher, T. (2021). Who aspires to higher education? Axes of inequality, values of education and higher education aspirations in secondary schools in Luxembourg and the Swiss Canton of Bern. European Journal of Education, 56(1), 9–26. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12435 Martins, L., & Veiga, P. (2010). Do inequalities in parents’ education play an important role in PISA students’ mathematics achievement test score disparities? Economics of Education Review, 29(6), 1016–1033. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2010.05.001 [less ▲]

TILL kompakt 2018. Kommentierter Auszug aus der Bildungsmonitoring-Datenbank TILL; "Trierer Informationssystem Lebenslanges Lernen" mit dem Schwerpunkt Zuwanderung und Migration

Report (2018)

Das Kommunale Bildungsmonitoring der Stadt Trier befasst sich mit den Auswirkungen der zunehmenden Interkulturalität auf die Bildungslandschaft in Trier. In der Bildungsmonitoring-Datenbank TILL (Trierer ... [more ▼]

Das Kommunale Bildungsmonitoring der Stadt Trier befasst sich mit den Auswirkungen der zunehmenden Interkulturalität auf die Bildungslandschaft in Trier. In der Bildungsmonitoring-Datenbank TILL (Trierer Informationssystem Lebenslanges Lernen) werden dauerhaft über 80 Indikatoren bereit gehalten, die zusammen das kommunale Bildungsgeschehen abbilden. Ein kommentierter Auszug aus dieser Bildungsmonitoring-Datenbank stellt der „TILL kompakt 2018“ dar, der sich mit dem Schwerpunkt Zuwanderung und Migration beschäftigt. Er zeigt, dass die Diversität seit 2010 in der Stadt Trier zunahm. Neben unseren direkten Nachbarn aus Frankreich und Luxemburg leben seither mehr Polen, Rumänen und Syrer in Trier. Hauptmotoren dieser Entwicklung sind die EU-Osterweiterung und die Flüchtlingsmigration aus dem Nahen Osten. In Trier sehen wir auch: Im Bildungssystem haben Schüler/innen mit Migrationshintergrund weniger Erfolg als Schüler/innen ohne Migrationshintergrund. Ausländische Schüler/innen wechseln seltener auf ein Gymnasium. Sie besuchen häufiger Realschulen plus. Sie wiederholen häufiger eine Klasse und haben niedrigere Schulabschlüsse, was ihnen die Aufnahme einer Berufsausbildung erschwert. Das Übergangssystem erlangt eine neue Bedeutung für diese jungen Erwachsenen. Die Ursachen sind vielfältig: Das Hauptaugenmerk liegt auf der fehlenden Sprachkompetenz. Aber auch die schlechteren sozioökonomischen Voraussetzungen des Elternhauses sind bei vielen osteuropäischen Schüler/innen Ursache für prekäre Bildungssituationen. Bei Kindern mit Fluchthintergrund kommen weitere Faktoren erschwerend hinzu: unterbrochene Bildungsbiographien, wechselnde Unterkünfte, ungünstige häusliche Lernumgebung und eine unsichere Bleibeperspektive. „TILL kompakt 2018“ gibt einen Überblick über die aktuellen demographischen Entwicklungen in der Stadt Trier und skizziert die Auswirkungen auf die lokale Bildungslandschaft. [less ▲]

2. Bildungsbericht Stadt Trier 2012

Report (2013)

"Das Trierer Bildungsmonitoring hat seit 2010 die Aufgabe, das kommunale Bildungsgeschehen kontinuierlich zu erfassen. […] Über die im Bildungsmonitoring gesammelten Indikatoren sollen die interessierte ... [more ▼]

"Das Trierer Bildungsmonitoring hat seit 2010 die Aufgabe, das kommunale Bildungsgeschehen kontinuierlich zu erfassen. […] Über die im Bildungsmonitoring gesammelten Indikatoren sollen die interessierte Öffentlichkeit, die Verwaltung, die Politik und die Bildungsakteure in regelmäßigen Abständen unterrichtet werden. Eine Form dafür ist der Bildungsbericht, der im Abstand von zwei Jahren erscheint. Der Bildungsbericht gibt einen Überblick über die Bandbreite der gesammelten Indikatoren und fokussiert dabei das Bildungsgeschehen jeweils unter einem thematischen Schwerpunkt." Schwerpunkt des zweiten Trierer Bildungsberichtes ist das Thema "Bildung und Geschlecht". [less ▲]

1. Bildungsbericht Stadt Trier 2010

Report (2011)

Der Bericht orientiert sich in seinem Aufbau am nationalen Bildungsbericht und nimmt demnach alle Bildungsbereiche von der frühkindlichen Bildung bis zur Weiterbildung in den Blick. Gegenstand des Trierer ... [more ▼]

Der Bericht orientiert sich in seinem Aufbau am nationalen Bildungsbericht und nimmt demnach alle Bildungsbereiche von der frühkindlichen Bildung bis zur Weiterbildung in den Blick. Gegenstand des Trierer Berichts sind außerdem Lernwelten außerhalb der Bildungseinrichtungen, die Kindern, Jugendlichen und Erwachsenen weitere Bildungsgelegenheiten bieten. [less ▲]