Education has been dramatically reformed worldwide over the last few decades. In this age of globalisation, student teachers, education students and scholars of the social sciences in general need to take careful note of these changes. Comparative Education: education systems and contemporary issues contains separate chapters in which a selection of education systems - South Africa, Botswana, the United States, Australia and India, as well as the emerging education dispensation of the European Union - are discussed. Each of these chapters is written by a renowned specialist of comparative education residing and working in the particular country. The other chapters of the book deal with issues in education: values and ideologies in education, cultural diversity, gender issues, higher education, curricular reform and violence in schools. The book commences with an outline of the historical evolution of comparative education and its significance.