How can governments, teacher organizations and schools as centers of their communities collaborate around the future of education and the whole child to build back better and provide an excellent education to all? That urgent question brought education ministers and other government leaders together with the heads of teachers’ organizations across 15 high-performing countries to take part in a remarkable convening: the 2021 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP).

Since 2011, ISTP has convened over a dozen of the world’s highest achieving and fastest improving countries. ISTP is at once a celebration of the unique contributions of teachers, a working session to address the thorniest challenges facing education systems, and a testament to what is possible through bilateral, multinational partnership. All ISTPs are co-hosted by Education International (EI), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and one host country. In 2021, the United States Department of Education served as host. Anthony Mackay, NCEE’s CEO and Board Co-Chair, is the moderator of every ISTP.

As one of the world’s leading organizations studying the design of high-performing education systems around the globe, NCEE is privileged to serve as the lead author of the report of this convening. It is our hope that this report will inform researchers, educators, and policymakers about the priorities of the world’s leading education systems, the potential for intentional partnerships to result in meaningful and productive change, and the latest thinking globally on advancing a whole child agenda focused on equity. Read the full report here. For more on ISTP 2021, see Education International or the U.S. Department of Education.