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Updates on: Japan looks to India’s education system, British schools’ wasteful spending on technology

Despite an improved economy, many Japanese are feeling a sense of insecurity about the nation’s schools, which once turned out students who consistently ranked at the top of international tests. That is no longer true, which is why many people here are looking for lessons from India, the country the Japanese see as the world’s ascendant education superpower. — New York Times (free registration may be required)

The British Government claims that Britain is a European leader in installing IT in the classroom. However, Becta, the Government’s adviser on IT in schools, says that many teachers are intimidated by the equipment and struggle to cope, and that children have a better understanding of how it works. Through buying the wrong software, schools are not using technology as effectively as they could, according to Becta’s chairman. — Times