In March 1997 the School of Education of the University of the West
Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, Jamaica, hosted the first in a series of public forums to address educational issues of national importance. It was the intention of those who conceptualized the forums that through this medium, concerns could be aired and solutions suggested and tested as experts in the field presented views on how major challenges to education might be effectively handled. This issue of the Caribbean Journal of Education highlights the papers presented at the nine public forums held over a four-year period. These papers have all been tran­scribed and edited from the original oral presentations.