Education and the British Empire: cultural imperialism or vital preparation for independence and nationhood? This question lies at the root of the history of the education services in India and the colonial territories. Clive Whitehead, a distinguished educationalist, has brought together these studies of the life and work of leading practitioners, covering over 100 years up to the end of empire, the onset of independence and beyond. He includes both administrators and teachers on the ground, like Sir Hans Vischer, Arthur Mayhew, Eric R. J. Hussey, Sir Christopher Cox, Frank Ward, Freda Gwilliam - the 'Great Aunt' of British colonial education - and the great social anthropologist turned educationalist, Margaret Mead. Leading issues are tackled, including academic education for the future Platonic Guardians who would run the territories after the British departed, provision of technical and scientific training, the need for mass education and literacy in English and local languages, equal opportunities for all and education for women and, perhaps the most vital principal with global implications, how to link Western knowledge with unique indigenous history and culture.

Imagery of Identity in South African Education examines the role that images embedded in the language and discourses of colonialism and apartheid have played in shaping diverse and conflicting identities in South Africa. It explores images and modes of discursive representation in South African education, and the associated struggles for constitution and hegemony of group identities over years. Images should be understood in the context of "the struggle in words and by words," in the sense that images and representations of group identities are not neutral intellectual activity. They are action and practice with profound implications for the affirmation of desire, power and interests within society. Cross shows how the question of group identity has dominated the history of intellectual and cultural production in South Africa, particularly within the educational field.

No. 1 contains "statistics mainly for the period 1910-1916".