Case studies on ministries of education were sought from states with populations under 1.5 million and displaying a wide range of economic, geographic, and cultural diversity. The introduction has six main sections: (1) information on definitions and the contents of the book; (2) an account of other Commonwealth Secretariat initiatives on education in small states; (3) literature on education in small states; (4) literature on public administration in small states; (5) the applicability and limitations of the work; and (6) an outline on the structure of the book. A 73-item bibliography follows the introduction. The 14 country studies in the book are grouped in 5 sections by their geographical location in the world: (1) Africa (Botswana, The Gambia, and Seychelles); (2) Asia (Brunei Darussalam and Maldives); (3) Caribbean (Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Montserrat, and St. Lucia): (4) Europe (Jersey and Malta); and (5) South Pacific (Kiribati and Solomon Islands). In most cases, the authors of the case studies were administrators in ministries of education, dealing on a day-to-day basis with the issues that they address. Among the group of statistical indicators that precedes each case study is the Human Development Index based on average life expectancy, adult literacy, and the power to buy commodities for satisfying basic needs. Dispersed within the book are 19 figures and 27 tables. A list of acronyms precedes the case studies and an index concludes the publication. (MLF)