As another school year begins, the international dimension in education has never been more important.

With television, Internet, international sport and travel all bringing the wider world into everyone's daily experience global issues have become part of young people's lives as never before.

The Global Gateway offers a one-stop shop for teachers and educationalists wanting to add an international dimension to the curriculum. It guides users by the hand through each stage of developing an international partnership from how to get started, finding a partner, curriculum development and gaining accreditation for good international educational work.

With resources and lesson plans available for teachers of all age groups covering all school subjects it has never been easier for schools to add an international dimension to the curriculum.

By working with partners overseas, schools can revitalise and rejuvenate school studies and motivate both staff and pupils.

Launched in early 2004 the Global Gateway has 70 participating countries and 9000 schools involved. It has recently been established in Africa, with Malawi the latest country to embrace the opportunities the Gateway offers. This has developed the already close educational ties with Malawi and Scotland, and builds exciting new international relationships between schools in both countries.

One early success of the programme in Malawi has been the number of online partnerships using the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF’s) eLanguages resource.

Teachers from Chimutu Community Day Secondary School in Malawi worked with their counterparts from St Andrews High School in Fife to share resources about how their students spend a typical day.

The Global Gateway is a major initiative of the Department for Children, Schools and Families to build an international dimension in education globally and is delivered by the British Council.

For more information on the Global Gateway e-mail editor@globalgateway.org.