Luxembourg gives high school students the skills for problem solving in a digital world
Luxembourg’s secondary students heading back to class this fall might notice an addition to their subject list: digital sciences. Introduced by the Ministry of National Education, Children & Youth, the far-reaching pilot phase spans 18 high schools.
Following early Digital Luxembourg skills initiatives – like Lux Tech School, CodeStart, Coding4Kids and the integration of coding courses into the public curriculum – the addition of digital sciences further modernizes the country’s education system to reflect the real world and anticipate tomorrow’s digital needs.
By the 2024/25 school year, the course will be found in all of the nation’s high schools. To combat the inequities surrounding access to digital skills, this rollout covers both the classical and technical educational routes with materials offered in German, French and English.
The subject contains six pillars: communication with machines & between machines; the world wide web & its challenges; computer data & its management; games, analogue & digital; robots & programming; & AI.
Given digital’s growing impact on society, students who grasp the principles of technology and its automation can respond to the ecological, societal and technological upheavals facing our world.
Digital applications will impact every sphere of public and professional life, so computational thinking and problem solving are becoming essential skills to every student and citizen, not just those who are tech-minded or in pursuit of a science-based career. Because of this, the digital sciences program has adopted a multidisciplinary approach. Teachers of all specialties will be able to lead the course after participating in a training led by the National Education Training Institute (IFEN).
From there, the Ministry of National Education, Children and Youth supplies teaching material: starter kits, teaching manuals, access to an online platform, tutorials and more.
Digital actors – such as the Center for Political Education (ZPB), the University’s Luxembourg Centre for Educational Testing (LUCET) and Bee Secure from the National Youth Service (SNJ) – have provided their expertise in the digital field to help implement the new subject and will, eventually, work with students.
As with Luxembourg’s entire curriculum, the digital sciences program will be continuously reassessed and adapted to reflect digital realities and deliver the skills our young citizens need to shape those realities.
