New book on teacher education in the Med.

A new book edited by Professor Ronald G. Sultana, of the University of Malta's Comparative Education Programme, has been published by the New York publishers Peter Lang Inc.

The volume, Teacher Education in the Euro-Mediterranean Region, considers teacher education in a number of Mediterranean countries and territories.

Although each state in the region has its own particular challenges, the book identifies and discusses the common concerns that result from the process of transition and change that each country is presently experiencing. Key issues and challenges are outlined, and strategies are developed and proposed with a view to ensuring quality provision.

In particular, the necessity of reforming the training of tomorrow's teachers in order to facilitate a transformation in primary- and secondary-level schooling is highlighted.

In reviewing the book, Professor Len Barton, of London's Institute of Education, called it "very timely and important".

"It provides a powerful stimulus for readers from other parts of the world to critically re-examine their own values, assumptions and practices in relation to the sorts of courses that will meet the challenges of, for example, rapid socio-political change, the impact of marketisation, the globalisation of culture and multiculturalism."

Professor Andrew Pollard, from the University of Cambridge, said Prof. Sultana and his colleagues provide "an excellent analysis of the key issues".

"In so doing, the Comparative Education Programme at the University of Malta, once more, demonstrates its value to the region and beyond."

This is the third volume published in the series of seminars on education in the Mediterranean organised by Prof. Sultana. A fourth volume, focusing on education and power, will be published later on this year.

The Comparative Education Programme, which has recently become the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Educational Research, is also responsible for the editing of the Mediterranean Journal of Educational Studies, now in its eight year of publication.