The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is one of the most influential international organisations in the world. Formed in 1961, it recognised very early on how critical education was to economic prosperity, and through a range of publications and activities it has established itself as the most influential international body in education. Now best known for its triennial PISA research and its annual Education at a Glance publication, one of its least wellknown but most effective programmes is the annual International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP). Held largely behind the scenes with as little publicity as possible, ISTP brings together in dialogue teacher union general secretaries and education ministers from participating countries. The summits are not open to the press, speeches from ministers and union leaders are banned (the excellent moderator allows two minute contributions only) ISTP is facilitated by the OECD and Education International, the teacher union international confederation. In preparation for each summit, the OECD and EI produce reports that the union leaders and ministers get just before the summit starts, which guide them on the topic chosen for policy exploration. This year the ISTP inevitably looked at the effect of COVID-19 on education. The OECD report circulated before the meeting, Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future: Excellence and Equity for All, was written by Professor Andreas Schleicher, Director of Education and Skills at the OECD. It informs much of this paper. The EI briefing document produced for the conference was written by John Bangs, Special Consultant to Education International and a former Assistant Secretary of the NUT. It, also, informs much of this paper. Pulling together strands from the two briefing documents and reporting of the conference itself is by Demitri Coryton, editor of Education Journal, which has had privileged access to ISTP in recent years. It gave extensive coverage of the summit in October 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]