Research around the world

Women have overtaken men at every level of education in developed countries around the world, according to survey results published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Girls are also more confident of getting better-paid, professional jobs than their male counterparts.

The survey, a detailed comparison of education achievement and spending in 43 developed countries, shows a consistent picture, across cultures and continents, of women achieving better results than men.

The success of girls is a complete reversal of what would have been expected a generation ago, said Andreas Schleicher, head of analysis at the OECD's education directorate. The 1990s, he added, have seen a remarkable change in women's expectations and achievements.

The survey found that in almost every developed country, 15-year-old girls are more confident than boys about getting high-income jobs.

They have good reason to be, because academically, around the globe, they are more successful - which is likely to lead to higher-income jobs.

In literacy skills, 15-year-old girls are ahead of boys in every one of the 43 countries surveyed. And this school-age gender gap leads to an increasingly stark difference between the success of male and female students in getting into university.

When words do hurt

Name-calling is more devastating for children's self-confidence than physical bullying, a study suggests.

Dr Stephen Joseph, a psychologist at the UK's Warwick University, found verbal abuse had a large and ongoing impact on children's self-esteem.

The study, which assessed 331 pupils in England, shows that bullying, and particularly name-calling, can be degrading for adolescents.

The study also suggests that verbal bullying can lead to victims feeling helpless and lacking control over their own feelings and actions.

Those who felt that power and control lay with the bully, rather than internally, were much more likely to suffer from lower self-worth.

US teens under grade pressure

American high school students feel much more pressure to get good grades and go to college than to look cool, do drugs or have sex.

A poll of 1,014 students aged 14 to 18 presented a largely positive picture of US teenagers, who emerged as directed, motivated and serious.

Asked to rank various pressures in their lives, 26 per cent said the need to get good grades was a major problem and a further 36 per cent called it a minor problem.

That was higher than the 16 per cent who said pressure to look a certain way was a major problem. Some 15 per cent cited financial problems as a major problem; 14 per cent had a major problem getting along with their parents; 12 per cent cited pressure to do drugs or drink alcohol; 10 per cent spoke of pressure to have sex and nine per cent listed loneliness and a feeling of being left out.

Most respondents felt their schools were doing a good job, and 95 per cent included college in their future plans.

Starting them young

According to research in China, 50 per cent of a person's behaviour are picked up between birth and four years of age, so infant education is crucial and should be given in an all-round manner.

"Parents should help their children develop a pleasant personality, desire for knowledge, independence, confidence and perseverance - things that are expected to benefit a child throughout his life and are therefore more important than literacy itself," said one psychologist.

A child learns from his own experience - by touching, crawling and capering in a carefree environment," a pediatrician said.

In a remark aimed at a growing trend for Chinese parents to send very young children for educational training, the pediatrician added that parents may actually impair their children's development by spoon-feeding them with book knowledge and "keeping them from the joys of infancy."

A good way to boost a baby's brain development was to grasp and observe things "so that they can feel the different textures of different objects".

Older children should be encouraged to keep and observe their favourite animals, dismantle toys and make their own little toys out of plasticine.

Parents biggest factor in success

Parents' involvement in their children's education has a bigger effect on their success in school than any other factor, research in the UK suggests.

According to studies commissioned by the Department of Education, a 16- year-old whose parents showed a high level of involvement will score far better than one from a similar background whose parents showed no interest. One study measured the difference at as much as 24 per cent.

As a result of the findings, Britain's Campaign for Learning is demanding more government investment in teaching parents how to teach their children.

"Parental involvement can make the difference between an A and an also-ran," a spokesperson said. "It accounts for up to one-quarter of potential attainment. Its effect is eight times greater than the impact of such aspects of social class as parents' occupations."