The editors have compiled this critical and comparative study of changes which took place in the New Zealand education system in the second half of the twentieth century. For other Western societies who have felt the impact of New Right policies the New Zealand case is interesting because it provides some indication of how policies of decentralization in education might be used to develop egalitarian and democratic educational policies.

Hugh Lauder (University of Bath, UK), Cathy Wylie (Edited by)

Citizens or consumers? the politics of educational reform, H.Lauder, et al; education and the role of the state - devolution and control post-picot, J.Codd, et al; education, democracy and the crisis of the welfare state, H.Lauder; power to the people? the Great Education Reform Act and tomorrow's schools - a critical and comparative perspective, J.Evans and B.Davies; the politics of reforming Maori education, G.Hingangaroa Smith; `I Just Wanna Decent Job', working class girls' education - perspectives and policy issues, A.Jones; notes on the schooling of the English working class - what lessons for New Zealand? a comparative briefing paper, G.Grace; the politics of curriculum innovation, G.I.A.R.Khan; towards pluralism and democracy - the administration of an inner city school, R.Heinz; public examination and the structuring of inequality - a case study, D.Hughes and H.Lauder; illiteracy, improper literacy and the development of an underclass, C.Lankshear; towards an alternative transition education policy, W.Korndorffer; trade union education and democracy, L.Sissons; work and education, A.Scott and J.Freeman-Moir.