This special anniversary issue of NORRAG News pays critical attention to the Global Monitoring Report (GMR) 2013/4 which has, as its principal focus, Teaching and Learning: Achieving Quality Education for All. The Report makes clear the crucial role of ‘Education for Development Post-2015’, showing how education contributes to a whole range of development outcomes. For the first time, a GMR presents a complete and thorough analysis centred on teachers and their role in the achievement of the Education for All targets. The Report makes the case that good quality teachers are at the heart of good quality education systems, but that in many settings the most disadvantaged children are still the most likely to be missing out. It paints a rather gloomy picture of the current state of the teaching workforce in many countries highlighting the chronic lack of adequately trained teachers, with many lacking basic education themselves. The Report found that teachers are often underpaid, undervalued, unmotivated, unsupported and are regularly subject to insensitive and arbitrary policy decisions. The issue thus plays close attention to these difficulties and explores various learnings from the Report.