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Country information
| 'When I first came to England I felt really lonely. Nobody knew about my home country or even where it was. I felt I was really different from the other children in my class. Then I got a new teacher. She really made an effort to find out about Romania. She came to see me dance. That teacher tried to understand what I had been through and she helped me come through a bad time. I think she really made a difference.' |
Pupils arriving into English schools from overseas come from many different countries. Even pupils from the same country may have diverse ethnic, religious, political or social class backgrounds.
Pupils' prior experiences impact on how they will settle and learn in a new school. It is important that you are aware of their background experiences, including their previous schooling, as this may influence how you plan for inclusion.
The Home Office produces reports on the countries that generate the largest number of asylum applications in the UK. For each country we provide a snapshot of information under the following headings:
- background information
- languages, ethnicity and culture
- religion
- the education system in the home country
- some issues for teachers and schools in the UK
- useful resources.
[A] | [B] | [C] | [D] | [E] | [F] | [G] | [H] | [I] | [J] | [K] | [L] | [M]
[N] | [O] | [P] | [Q] | [R] | [S] | [T] | [U] | [V] | [W] | [X] | [Y] | [Z]
| A-C |
Afghanistan Albania Algeria Angola Bangladesh Burundi China Colombia Cyprus Czech Republic
| D-F |
| G-I |
| J-L |
Jamaica Latvia Liberia Lithuania
| M-O |
| P-R |
Pakistan Poland Portugal Romania Rwanda
| S-U |
Serbia and Montenegro Sierra Leone Slovakia Slovenia Somalia Sri Lanka Sudan The Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of Congo Turkey Uganda
| V-Z |
[A] | [B] | [C] | [D] | [E] | [F] | [G] | [H] | [I] | [J] | [K] | [L] | [M]
[N] | [O] | [P] | [Q] | [R] | [S] | [T] | [U] | [V] | [W] | [X] | [Y] | [Z]
Useful weblinks
QCA is not responsible for the content of external sites.
All Refer: Country study and guide
This website contains information on over 100 countries.
BBC News: Country Profiles
Select a country, territory or international organisation from the drop down menus.
CIA: Country information
Country information is updated regularly on this site. There is a guide to country profiles that allows you to search an A-Z country index.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada: Cultural profiles project
Each cultural profile provides an overview of life and customs in the profiled country. While the profile provides insight into some customs, it does not cover all facets of life, and the customs described may not apply in equal measure to all newcomers from the profiled country.
Ethnologue
Ethnologue gives global information about minority languages.
Hampshire EMA Service
This websites includes a section on language, culture and religious observances.
Home Office: The Country of Informationion Service (COI)
COI Service provides accurate, up-to-date and sourced information on asylum seekers' countries of origin.
The 'Education' section of the UNESCO website contains very detailed reports about the background and the education system in a great number of countries.
UNICEF: Information by country
158 countries are listed in alphabetical order.
US Library of Congress: Federal Research Division
The 'Country studies' section in this website presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world and examines the interrelationships of those systems and the ways they are shaped by cultural factors.
The ethnologue country index provides information about the languages spoken in each country