The research presented in this paper consists of two parts: 1) desk research/literature review, and 2) eight in-depth case studies, two of which are Quality-ED’s pilot projects. The desk research presents a range of examples drawn from South Africa, New Zealand, Canada and the Council of Europe’s Pestalozzi Programme. These examples illustrate various endeavours to develop competence profiles for primary teachers and their implementation. Given the limits of time and resources, the case study research is confined to eight countries who responded positively when asked about the existence and implementation of a primary teacher competence profile at a national level. Although CSOs were approached as well as trade unions in collecting data, the input comes primarily from union members. To assure geographical balance, two countries were selected in each of four regions: Chile and Brazil in Latin America, India and Malaysia in Asia, and the Netherlands and Slovenia in Europe, in addition to the project pilot countries of Mali and Uganda in Africa.