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Global differences exist in the teaching of sex education in schools in a world where over 50 percent of young people are sexually active by the time they are 17 years old. Article considers sex education in several countries, including Japan, Italy, the US, Kenya, Argentina and Sweden.

Some 4,500 pupils studied Mandarin to GSCE level in 2005, up 40% from 2,400 in 2000. However, if the subject was more widely offered in schools, the number would be even larger.

An overview of the international placements scheme for school principals, which is funded by the National College for School Leadership and run in partnership with the British Council. Those who have taken part in the week-long placements describe them as significant opportunities broaden horizons and develop new leadership skills.

An overview of efforts by Charmain Hartley, international co-ordinator at Hove Park school in East Sussex, to bridge gaps between groups, nations and cultures by providing her school's students with international aspect to their education. Hartley's efforts have seen the school develop links with 13 countries and the school receive the first TES/HSBC International School of the Year award.

An account of the EuroJam scout jamboree that took place at Hylans Park in Chelmsford, England, between 29 July and 10 August 2005. More that 10,000 Scouts and Guides from across Europe attended the jamboree, providing opportunities for cultural exchange.

An analysis of the economic, political and social impact of membership of the EU on the organisation's 25 members. Issues examined include the relative financial contributions of the EU's members, the impact on trade, worker's rights, freedom to travel, foreign policy and law and order.

An analysis of the eTwinning scheme launched by the EU Commission in 2005. The eTwinning scheme is a computer-based schools partnership programme that enables schools across Europe to find partner schools for projects both large and small, helping schools with their studies in areas such as culture and languages.

An analysis of how a school in the London borough of Lambeth is trying to emulate a pioneering parental involvement scheme run by schools in Uganda. The aim of the Ugandan scheme is to help improve both adult literacy and the educational performance of primary school students. Rachel Holmes, key stage 2 co-ordinator at Hurley special school in Lambeth, believes that the scheme's hands-on approach could be used with children with profound learning difficulties.

An overview of the Dreams and Teams project, run jointly by the British Council and the Youth Sports Trust, which links young people from the UK with their peers from one of 20 countries and helps them to learn leadership skills by co-organising sporting events. Under the scheme, Manor school, a specialist sports college in Northamptonshire, has linked up with River Plate school and Southern Cross school, both bilingual English-Spanish school in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to organise a sports festival for people with disabilities.

Jude Kelly, theatre director and chair of the 2012 advisory committee for culture and education, analyses the cultural impact the 2012 could have on London, England. It is contended that, no matter where they are held, Olympics bring the world's many culture together, making internationalism and citizenship real and exciting.

Nursery age children in Liverpool, UK, are being taught modern languages by mother-tongue speakers as part of the city's drive to invest heavily in nursery and primary language learning. A total of 10 schools are teaching modern languages at nursery level upwards for at least three lessons per week, while all 160 primary schools are offering language teaching to Year 5 and 6 pupils. The pupils are able to learn a language through games and songs.

The Tic-Talk language project run from Cambridge University is helping teenagers from England, France, Canada and Senegal to communicate online with each other in English and French. The project makes use of the WebBoard, an Internet-based bulletin board, to enable teenagers to discuss things which they would not cover in their classrooms. The project is led by Dr Michael Evans, senior education lecturer at the university, who places topics for discussion onto the bulletin board around once per week.

UK and French schools are taking different approaches to the issue of dealing with the growing number of pupils who speak a different language as their first language. An Anglo-French exchange scheme organised by the British Council and the National College for School Leadership has enabled headteachers from schools in the UK and France to visit each other to see how they deal with the issues of language, cultural diversity and social integration.

Head teachers from schools in England and Finland have visited each other's schools in a project aimed at encouraging the exchange of ideas and expertise. The Finnish heads were impressed with the support given to new teachers in England, while the English heads were impressed with the freedom teachers in Finland are given to devise their own course content.

School life on the island of Groede, a small island in the North Sea, is profiled. The school only has two pupils and one teacher, who confesses her concerns about the isolation of her two pupils and their lack of opportunities to discuss subjects with people of their own age.

Jim Foley, head of the award-winning St Thomas Aquinas School, discusses his focus on the special strategy developed by him to identify and guide gifted and talented students.

The death of 15-year-old Adam Regis of the Kingsford community school in the U.K. led teachers of the school to write a report on their experiences of how they dealt with such a loss. Their aim was to help other schools facing similar instances of knife and gun crime and encourage them to conduct workshops on the same to bring awareness and prevent future incidents.

Heads of diverse schools believe that whole-school management is more effective in developing a sense of belonging among ethnic groups, rather than focusing on a particular group. They focus on improving the quality of education in totality, and employ diverse staff to enable diverse pupils feel safe and secure, and part of the wider community.

The MySpace web site can be interpreted by some as a waste of time, as children appear to spend an inordinate amount of time on it. However, it can also be a valuable tool for linking schools and pupils across the world with eachother.

Pupils from Polesworth High have visited their link school in Pampawie, Ghana. The visit was part of an ongoing link between the schools, which, in turn, is a patr of the schools links worldwide.

A record-breaking number of education authority officials, teachers and headteachers have visited China this half-term, according to the British Council. Many of the visits are motivated by an intent to tap in to China's growing economic importance.

According to Andreas Schleicher of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the failure to invest in better support for immigrant pupils could prove expensive to European governments in the long run. The fact that teachers often expect too little of immigrant students will, in the long term, produce unemployment and disaffection.

Half of Romania's communist-era orphanages have been forced to close by tough membership comditions set by the European Union. However, Bulgaria has not had similar pressure applied to it, leaving tens of thousands of children living in squalid conditions with no access to good-quality education.

The International School of Sophia Antipolis, near Nice, France, has gone into administration with a debt of some Euro 2 million. The school has 170 pupils, of which 70 are boarders.

An analysis of Unicef's 'State of the World's Children 2006' report, which reveals that millions of children around the world still suffer abuse in one form or another. The report calls for the world's governments to do more for these children.

An overview of the efforts being made by schools in the areas devastated by the tsunami that struck Asia at the end of 2004 to get back to some sort of normality and provide a better future for the children whose lives were touched by the disaster.

Unicef, the United Nations children's fund, has launched a new global campaign on HIV/Aids focusing on the problems faced by the children of those who have died from the disease. There are estimated to be about 14 million Aids orphans under 18 in sub-Saharan Africa and it is forecast this figure could reach 20 million by 2010. Keeping these children in education is a financial problem many countries have difficulty dealing with.

An overview of an eTwinning scheme run for special needs students at Sackville school in East Grinstead, England, and Kumpula school in Porvoo, Finland. The eTwinning scheme is the European Commission's partnership programme for schools.

The UK has fallen to 22nd place in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) international education league tables as a result of a failure to improve the number of pupils leaving school with basic qualifications. The OECD warned that the social divide between those with qualifications and those without had widened alarmingly in the UK.

Delegates to the C8 summit (the children's G8) are urging world leaders to act on poverty and education. The C8 delegates are hpoing to influence the G8 leaders and put the talks into perspective so that they can be understood more generally.

British teachers sacked for 'deserting' their posts at schools in Kuwait during the 2003 Iraq war have won a victory in the courts on the grounds of unfair dismaissal. The teachers feel vindicated by the Kuwaiti courts' decision.

The education system in Turkey is to undergo reform in order to bring it into line with European values and excise its militaristic traditions as part of Turkey's bid to become a member of the European Union. Civic groups have expressed cautious optimism about the plans, stating that, if fully implemented, the changes will enable pupils to question the past and challenge long-held views in a way not possible under the existing system.

Half of developed countries are concerned about their ability to attract and retain high-quality graduates in teaching, according to a report presented by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development at the Teachers Matter conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The report revealed that in a number of countries the quality of teachers has become a matter for concern, with headteachers worried that learning is being hampered by either teacher shortages or teacher inadequacy.

The Government has promised to use its upcoming presidencies of the European Union and the G8 group of industrialised countries to call on rich countries to increase and accelerate funding for basic education in the world's poorer countries. While the Department for International Development has expressed its commitment to the United Nations' target of provision of universal primary education by 2015, an Unesco monitoring report on Education For All has found that many poor countries are unlikely to reach this target.

Safety experts have warned, in the aftermath of the Beslan hostage tragedy in Russia, that more must be done worldwide to help schools prepare for terrorist attacks. Schools in high-risk areas should be helped by international training schemes, with even the children trained what to do in the event of an attack.

A new OECD survey of upper-secondary school performance has ranked Nordic countries above other countries. Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland all achieved above-average scores in 7-8 out of 10 measurement benchmarks. The main strengths of the Nordic schools are the availability and use of computers and the professional development of teachers.

Teachers across Europe are being forced to take on additional responsibilities and tasks, according to Eurydice, the European Union's education think-tank. As a result, stress and disquiet levels among teachers are rising in spite of the increasing trend towards smaller class sizes.

English head teachers visiting schools in the Netherlands believed the trip to be a major success for their professional development. In particular, the English heads were impressed with the self-sufficiency and self-management skills which Dutch secondary school pupils showed. By taking on extra responsibilities, the pupils remain motivated and enthusiastic about learning.

The university admissions system in Germany is being revised. Under the new regulations, universities will be allowed to interview applicants, hold entrance exams, set minimum grades and demand higher marks for specific subjects. The changes could lead to the creation of a 'super-league' of universities which are able to attract the top-performing students.

EU countries other than those in North Europe have discovered that student tuition fees are acceptable, provided that they do not replace government aid entirely. Those countries which do charge these fees, such as Austria and the Netherlands, rule out differential fees, believing that access will be damaged.

Modern Indian dance could soon become a regular subject in schools if the efforts of Honey Kalaria, a leading Indian dance teacher and choreographer, are rewarded. Kalaria is trying to establish a national syllabus, standards and exams for Indian dance, and has a launched a national tour with the aim of attracting 9-13-year-olds.

Klaus Landfried, the president of the conference of university vice-chancellors, said that a centrally-set Abitur, or high school leaving exam, would introduce much-needed transparency into the system. The current situation comprises a hotch-potch of board and school-based exams which do not allow a fair comparison of students' performance across the country. An August 2002 opinion poll found that 72% of Germans favoured a central Abitur vs 19% favouring school-based exams.

This article reports on the quality of industrial and technological education in Germany, focusing on the political, social and international aspects of Germany's education policy. The author argues that lack of strength in technical and science education is having a direct impact on students' academic achievement.

Out-of-school private tutoring has grown to a 1.5 billion pounds sterling industry in the United Kingdom. Tutoring is a growing industry in other European countries as well. Lack of support in public and private schools for students who cannot keep up with the average learning rate is blamed for the increase

Robert Steinhaeuser shot and killed 16 people at the Gutenburg elementary school in Erfurt, Germany, in the last week of April, 2002. Thousands of students and teachers returned to the school one week after the shootings to pay tribute to these victims.