Most of what is known about Sparta comes from surviving Athenian records- like Xenophon of Athens, Thucydides, and others- which means that there is little direct evidence about Sparta in the way there is evidence about Athens. For this reason most of what is written about Sparta is an interpretation of what Athenians at the time thought about them, and in most cases Athenians did not think highly of Spartans.

The difficulty with interpreting second-hand information like this is explicit when looking at the way Athenian historians wrote about Spartan women. Athens at the time was a society that practised cloistering women. Women were not supposed to leave designated rooms, or wander about the house if there were other male guests visiting. In contrast, Spartan women were said to be valued for their physical strength, that they trained like men, because Spartan society believed that a strong mother would produce strong offspring. This non-cloistering of women was seen as "barbarous" by Athenian historians so they could have over-emphasised these aspects of Spartan life, particularly about how "war-like" and "barbarous" Sparta was.

There is a wonderful book written about Spartan women (and by extension men) by Sarah B Pomeroy, which chronicles the daily lives of Spartan women (and men), and she provides a great analysis of the Athenian sources she has to use as well. She provides many details about education for girls and boys, different expectations between the classes, etc. Another great work in English that has more of the stuff your're looking for about government structures, etc, is Sparta: New Perspectives edited by Hodkinson and Powell.