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Malta is made up of a group of small islands, two of which are inhabited. The larger island, Malta, has a population of about 350,000, while Gozo, the second largest island, has around 29,000 inhabitants. The archipelago of islands covers a surface area of about 316 square kilometres. It lies ninety-three kilometres to the south of Sicily and 290 kilometres to the north of the African coast. Its position in the middle of the Mediterranean and its natural harbours have attracted a number of colonial powers – the Carthaginians, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Normans, the various houses of Spain, the French, and the British – who at one time or another took possession of the islands. As a result, Malta has not only an extremely rich neolithic inheritance, but also several ancient and medieval cities and citadels surrounded by excellent examples of military architecture and fortifications, numerous fine churches, and a rich array of folklore and traditions.

In the UN, the Republic of Macedonia had to assume the official name of FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) because of protests from Greece, a name it has never accepted itself. The Republic covers an area of 25,713 square kilometres and has about two million inhabitants (Lukan/Jordan 1998). The titular population makes up 66% of the country’s inhabitants, while the rest is divided among twentythree ethnic minorities. Albanians (23%), Turks (4%), and Roma (2.3%) are the most numerous among them. They therefore include ethnic groups in which either a traditional aversion against educational institutions exists (Roma) or in which girls and women are substantially under-represented in such institutions (Albanians).

Socio-political changes have influenced the development of education and pedagogical thinking in Moldova. Moldova did not exist as an independent political entity within its present boundaries until 1991 (the Proclamation of Independence). From the middle of the fourteenth to the beginning of the fifteenth century there was an independent Moldovan principality, whose territory consisted of a part of presentday Romania and the eastern part of the territory between the Prut and the Nistru rivers, called Basarabia. The first schools in Moldova in the Middle Ages functioned under the protection of the church, as in other European countries. Their goal was to train personnel for the needs of the royal court. Some specific socio-cultural phenomena, characteristic of the historical period at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries, such as the transition from the Slavonic language to the Romanian language and Latin script, and the introduction of print in Moldova (1641), contributed to the appearance in big cities and regional centres of a new type of school: state schools in which the instruction was in the Romanian language. Specific national features were gradually introduced into the education system, but the events of 1812, when the eastern part of Moldova (Basarabia) was annexed to the Russian Empire, impeded the development of the school system’s national character.

With an area of just 1.95 square kilometres, the Principality of Monaco (French: Monegasque: ) is the second-smallest independent state in the world, after the Vatican City. The principality is stretched between France and the Mediterranean Sea along the . While the independence of the principality dates back to 1297, it has been a constitutional monarchy since 1911. French is used as the official language and as the medium of instruction at school, but the local language, Monegasque, is still in use. The constitution declares Roman Catholicism to be the state religion.

Montenegro is a small country with approximately 620,000 inhabitants (as of 2003) covering an area of just under 14,000 square kilometres, which roughly corresponds to the area of Northern Ireland. In former Yugoslavia, Montenegro was one of the six member states. After the demise of the Federation, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, including Montenegro, was re-constituted in 1992. Since 2003, the Republic of Montenegro has been part of the loose alliance of Serbia and Montenegro. This alliance was established in 2002-03 under pressure from the European Union against the background of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. Serbia and Montenegro do not constitute a federation; their union is characterized by the independence of both republics. Thus, the cultural and educational autonomy of both states has been retained. However, since the transformation processes in the Balkan States have not yet been concluded, serious movements towards a break-up of the alliance surface time and again.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century, following the occupation by the French army, the Netherlands became a sovereign state. The Hague was made the centre of national government, from where changes to the school system were and continue to be controlled. In 1801 the first Primary Education Act was passed; since then both state schools and private schools have existed in the Netherlands. The state schools at the time were municipal and village schools, French schools, and Latin schools. Private schools were founded by the churches, foundations, and private individuals. With the establishment of state and private schools, a long-lasting struggle developed concerning equal treatment and financing. This struggle, which became known as the school funding controversy, was only brought to an end with the 1917 Schools Act and the so-called educational specification. Since that time, education in both state and private schools has been state-financed. In 1900 general compulsory school attendance was introduced. By that time, approximately 90% of children were already attending primary school. There was little interest in secondary education at the time: in the period around 1900, more than 92% of pupils did not attend secondary education after leaving primary school. It was believed that people had received sufficient education once they had completed primary school.

If you are visiting Norway, you will probably make a stop at the Viking ship museum. It is dedicated to the cultural history of the period of Viking raids into Europe between 800 and 1050. The earliest burial site remains, including ships and beautiful handcrafted furnishings, were excavated more than 100 years ago and reflect, among many other public ventures, the search for a national identity. Many would see this as highly problematic, since the Norsemen consisted of three peoples: Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians, or what one would today consider Scandinavians. However, they have always been closely connected.

The history of Polish schools has always been closely linked with the history of the Christian Church. As in the countries of Western Europe, it was the Catholic Church that founded the first schools. In 1364, however, when the Academy of Krakow was established, the focal point of educational initiatives shifted from the Church to this newly established academic centre. Later on, in Polish Renaissance society, educational problems were considered of key importance and were therefore attended to with care and concern, leading to the introduction of many novel ideas. In such circumstances, the idea that the State should be held responsible for schooling was born. The sixteenth century, the ‘Golden Age’ in the history of Poland, saw many schools promoted by the adherents of particular religious groups. However, after the success of the Counter-Reformation movement, these were reduced to Jesuit schools. Nevertheless, the Jesuit schools were very influential and played an important part in the considerable increase in the intellectual achievements of the youth of the time.

The Revolution of 25 April 1974 was a great milestone of change with obvious consequences for the historical development of schooling in Portugal. Putting an end to a forty-eight-year-old dictatorship, it opened the country to democracy. After Salazar’s death in 1968, the new Prime Minister, Marcello Caetano, tried to gradually reform the regime, but the so-called Marcellist spring was so weak and corrupt that the Revolution broke out in the early morning hours of 25 April 1974. It was the army, tired of a bloody and futile war in remote colonies in Africa, that led the Revolution (also known as the Carnations Revolution, because these flowers were in bloom at that time of the year and were placed in the guns of the soldiers). It was a peaceful revolution, since the forces of the surrendered with little resistance.

As in most countries, the development of the Romanian education system is related to the evolution of the political, economic, and social sectors of public life. From an historical point of view, the education system in Romania – its curriculum, structure, and organization – has been determined by a few moments of national importance. These marked the beginning of particular historical periods, and were accompanied by important political changes. Each period is characterized by its own ideology, which informed the Romanian Constitution, the country’s laws, and every sector of public life.