Education, once regarded as a key pillar of Commonwealth activity, is increasingly inconspicuous on Commonwealth agendas. Written to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the first Commonwealth Education Conference in 1959, the chapters in this volume reflect on the past, present, and future of Commonwealth educational cooperation. This book reviews some of the principal dimensions of education development in Commonwealth member states and the challenges they face, including girls’ education, student exchange, the use of technology, education challenges in small states, and efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in and through education.

Across all its contributions, this book examines the case for education being a continued priority area for Commonwealth collective engagement and considers where and how the Commonwealth might direct future efforts in education at a time of constrained resources. This book is an insightful resource for scholars and researchers involved in Commonwealth studies and will be of particular interest to political scientists, economists, and educators.

This book originally appeared as a special issue of The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs.