Blog · a school system in motion

Learning to read in French: the choice coming to parents

In the second term of the 2026/2027 school year, some parents will be asked a question nobody in Luxembourg has ever been asked before: which language will your child learn to read in, French or German? The reform is called ALPHA – zesumme wuessen, it has four years of pilot behind it, and almost nothing about it has been explained from a parent's point of view. That is what this page does: what it is, when you answer, what changes for your child, and how to approach the decision. For the order of languages as it stands today, see what the curriculum already sets before a child starts school.

What the ALPHA reform changes, in one sentence

Today, the language a child learns to read and write in is not a question in Luxembourg: it is German. For cycles 2 to 4, the ministry puts it like this: « literacy takes place in German, which is then the language of instruction (vehicular language) for all subjects, with the exception of French ».

ALPHA opens that door. French becomes a second possible route into reading, and the school is not the one who decides: the parents are. That is the real novelty, more than the teaching method. A decision that belonged to the system moves to families.

If you grew up with an English-speaking school system, this is where the ground shifts. In the UK, in Ireland, in the United States, children learn to read in the language they already speak at home. Here the question is genuinely open, and it is put to you.

The reform is not improvised. It has been running as a pilot project since the 2022/2023 school year in four basic schools, and on 13 July 2026 the ministry published the 2026 collection of evaluation reports, after four years of implementation.

Sources: the 2026 evaluations confirm the relevance of the « ALPHA – zesumme wuessen » reform, MENJE, 13 July 2026 and Languages in Luxembourg schools, MENJE. Both are published in French; the quotations on this page are our translations from the original.

The timeline: when you choose, when it begins

This is the part parents are looking for, and the part no summary puts up front. Two dates matter, and they do not fall in the same year: you choose a full year before anything changes in the classroom.

Source: MENJE press release of 13 July 2026. The release announces a progressive extension up to the 2032/2033 school year; it does not set out that rollout school by school.

Read the middle row twice. If your child is in cycle 1.2 in 2026/2027, the question comes that year, and not when they move up to cycle 2. So you have a few months to talk it through with the school: that is not much, and it is infinitely better than being caught out.

Cycle 1 does not change, and for a young child that is the whole point

Plenty of parents will hear « learning to read in French » and conclude that pre-school is switching to French. It is not, and this needs saying plainly: the reform changes nothing in cycle 1, whichever language is chosen afterwards.

In cycle 1, which takes children aged 3 to 5, the ministry still describes the same picture: « the language of communication is Luxembourgish and several play activities are held in French during the week ». Instructions, routines, songs, playground arguments: Luxembourgish. Before reading begins, nothing moves.

So the choice is about the written word, not about the language your child will be hearing over the next three years. The optional précoce year stays exactly what it is, and the two Spillschoul years still run in Luxembourgish.

Source: Languages in Luxembourg schools, MENJE.

What four years of pilot showed

The 2026 collection sets out findings that the evaluation reports describe as converging. Here they are as published, with no dressing up:

• a lower rate of cycle extension in the pilot schools;
• a trend towards better school results;
• pupils who are more motivated and more engaged;
• stronger parental involvement;
• the scheme is workable, both pedagogically and organisationally.

One finding is new, and it is the one that will travel fastest: « according to teachers' assessment, close to one pupil in two would benefit from learning to read in French ». Note the exact wording: this is teachers' assessment, it concerns close to one pupil in two, so not every pupil, and not yours by name.

The evaluations were not carried out by a single hand: the University of Luxembourg, LUCET, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, SCRIPT, IFEN and the regional directorates are all involved.

Source: 2026 collection of evaluation reports, MENJE press release of 13 July 2026.

And what those evaluations cannot prove yet

A page quoting only the list above would be selling you something. The ministry itself enters a caveat, and it deserves as much room as the good results.

The scientific council restates a fully positive opinion on the reform. But the press release adds that « parts of the quantitative evaluations nonetheless call for cautious interpretation, because of the size of the pupil sample ».

What to take from that as a parent: four schools are not a country. The encouraging figures rest on a small number of pupils, and the ministry says so itself before anyone holds it against them. That does not disqualify the reform, it forbids turning it into a promise. Nobody can guarantee you today that learning to read in French will make your child succeed.

How to approach the decision, without letting anyone take it for you

There is no general right answer, and be wary of anyone who hands you one. The ministry does not say that one language is better than the other: it says that, according to teachers' assessment, close to one pupil in two would benefit from French. So what follows is not a recommendation, it is what you actually have to work with.

One practical instruction, worth more than ten arguments: the school is who you talk to. Not a forum, not a leaflet, not this page. Ask the cycle 1.2 teacher for a meeting before the second term, say which language is spoken at home, and ask how your child handles each of the two.

What you can do in the meantime has not changed: support the Luxembourgish that remains the language of their classroom until cycle 2, without trying to take on the written word in the school's place. Learning to read is a teacher's job, with a method, over two years, and that will stay true in both languages.

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