This book is a significant update of the successful earlier editions - Scottish Education published in 1999, and Scottish Education: Post-devolution published in 2003. It reflects the very considerable changes which have taken place in education in recent years, taking account of a wealth of new research evidence. Featuring some 40 new authors, the latest volume contains fresh, forthright and informed commentary on every aspect of education and is essential reading for anyone concerned to know how education 'works' in Scotland. It examines educational practice and professional thinking from pre-school and primary, through secondary, further and higher education; and locates Scottish education within its social, cultural and political context. A new, final section looks to the future, offering thoughtful critical assessments of the educational landscape ahead. Reviewing the first edition, Olga Wojtas described it as 'an ambitious and formidable tome ! accessible to non-specialists ! with a sharp, critical edge' (THES). The second edition was said by Frank Pignatelli to be '...a text that is authoritative yet accessible, scholarly yet provocative, definitive yet iconoclastic' (TESS).