Luxembourg is a small country (about the same population as Malta) and borders are permeable. The education system is under change at the moment, also because of the PISA results. It is a state system with little privatisation in which teachers are senior civil servants. Some reforms have been initiated, e.g. giving more autonomy to schools, developing new concepts of learning and teaching and standards for competence based learning. Schools are well funded and well equipped, including ICT.

Due to the three national languages of Luxembourg, languages are acquired generally at an early age.  Lëtzebuergisch, German and French are introduced as a language of instruction at different levels of education. Lëtzebuergisch is the teaching language in pre-primary school and the first two years of primary school. Children in pre-primary education and in primary education in the city of Luxembourg are familiar to use ICT at this very early age.

The Technolink Schoolnetwork centre provides daily support services to 6,000 students between 3 and 12 years old in 58 schools with 4,000 classrooms and 600 school staff involved. Technolink provides a standard set of hardware for primary schools and provides technical support –a telephone hotline in classrooms connecting directly to a human technician who can remotely fix problems particularly impressed visitors.

In a first phase, the centre equipped pre primary and primary classes with ICT infrastructure. Each classroom receives on request one computer table, one iMac and a printer. Teachers can rent additional material such as CD ROM readers, scanners, digital cameras and video players.  Teachers can also request a wireless laptop per student in the classroom. The ibooks have an airport card are interconnected, have wireless Internet access and are connected to a printer.

Other services of the centre include:

• Installation and maintenance
• Administration of the information network 
• Help in budget proposals
• The provision of administration tools such as a virtual desktop for each teacher, a school information library, online reservation of pedagogical material and collective ibooks, tools for linking teachers-parents and students

The centre has evolved from a project with a technical focus that equipped schools and created a school information network into an educational service centre. It now also covers a variety of pedagogical services and educational activities for schools. The homepage of the centre offers, for example, pre selected links in line with the curriculum and textbooks. Professional training is organised from teacher to teacher to develop new pedagogical methods and to guarantee the illustration of ICT in the classroom.

Cluster members were also impressed by MiniBooks, a piece of software developed by the Technolink centre and freely available. Used from the early years upwards it is an open-ended application that enables learners to combine text, graphics, photos, video and audio to create stories or reports. The book can be printed out and taken home to show parents. The software also encourages pedagogies such as project-based learning and collaborative problem-solving. It is widely used by teachers and open for all teachers in Luxembourg. The MiniBook version is freely available to all schools in and out Luxembourg. The latest version can be downloaded now on the Technolink site (http://www.technolink.lu/minibook/index.shtm#)

The Technolink Centre
http://www.technolink.lu/

Background papers and visit documentation from the Peer Learning activity to Luxembourg can be seen at:
http://www2.myschool.lu/home/pla/documents.asp