The papers which make up this volume have for the most part emerged from the work of a team of young researchers based for varying periods at the Department of Educational Studies of the University of Oxford as part of an international network funded by the European Union. The network, known as PRESTiGE (Problems of Educational Standardisation and Transition in a Global Environment), involves teams at six European universities, each of which can only employ young researchers from Member States other than that in which it is situated. The Oxford part of PRESTiGE has been concerned with the...