For more than three decades educators and policy makers in Australia have been interested in the development of professional standards for teachers. In recent years teacher associations in Australia have been developing their own standards to gain more influence over quality assurance in their profession. This paper aims to provide a broad overview of teaching standards and their use. It begins with an explanation of the idea of teaching standards, pointing out that standards are both statements about what is valued and tools for measurement. A distinction is drawn between ‘profession-wide’ teaching standards and standards developed by agencies like employers, within cultures of managerial accountability. The paper argues that teaching standards have most impact when they are part of a profession-wide standards-based professional learning and certification system. In this way, they have the potential to engage most teachers in modes of professional learning that improve student learning.