The Catholic school system is the largest faith-based educational network in the world, with 120,000 schools and over 1,000 colleges and universities working in partnership with them. With growing international interest in the significance of faith-based educational systems worldwide, this is an appropriate time to focus upon the Catholic system as the largest of these. Knowledge of Catholic educational scholarship and research has been largely confined to specific national settings. Now is the time to bring together this scholarship in an international Handbook reflecting the fact that the Catholic Church is an international organisation and that its various educational systems can learn from each other.

The unifying theme of the Handbook will be a Catholic Education: challenges and responsesa (TM) in a number of international settings. The analytical focus will be problem orientated in examining church-state relations, the consequences of globalisation, the impact of secularisation, the extent of Vatican II transformations of educational policy and practice, issues of school leadership and governance and other contemporary challenges. At the same time an examination will be undertaken of the various responses which are being made to these challenges. The two volumes will be organized by geography.

This publication will be of value not only to Catholic educators but also to all educators, researchers, policy-makers and school leaders interested in the international dimension of education and in the impact of globalisation upon educational systems.