Examination Systems in Small States: Comparative Perspectives on Policies, Models and Operations [Book review]

Abstract

The majority of the Commonwealth members, regardless of the unit (and rigidity) of smallness used (e.g., population, area or Gross National Product), classify as small countries. In the introduction to the book Mark Bray refers to a Commonwealth Secretariat publication which stresses the uniqueness of small states (in this publication statehood is taken to include independent sovereign countries as well as semi-autonomous dependencies). The Secretariat recognises that small states have an ecology of their own. In other words they are not simply a down-scale version of larger countries. Consequently the Commonwealth Secretariat pays special attention to the multiple concerns of small states, among which is education. This concern on the implications of size in relation to educational issues is evidenced by the Educational Development in the Small States of the Commonwealth book series being published by the Human Resource Development Division of the Secretariat. And this book on examination systems in small states (meant for ministries of education, institutions, researchers and international organisations) is the series' latest addition.