As the 2015 target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches, there are a growing number of processes, preparations and debates on what a post-2015 agenda and framework will look like. The United Nations Development Group (UNDG) (as chaired by the United Nations Development Programme) is leading the planning of efforts to catalyse a "global conversation" on post-2015 through a series of some 100 national consultations and 11 global thematic consultations. The aim of these consultations has been to bring together a broad range of stakeholders to review progress on the MDGs and to discuss the options for a new framework. The overall global thematic consultation on education is co-led by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with support from the Government of Canada, the Government of Germany and the Government of the Republic of Senegal. The education consultations focus on the progress to date as well as the possible scope and shape of education within the post-2015 agenda. The purpose of this special edition of the "Compare" Forum is to contribute to this debate in relation to ideas about how progress towards greater education quality and equity can be achieved, including how and what goals and targets need to be defined and owned and how governments can be made accountable for them. This "Compare" forum is comprised of the following articles: (1) Editorial: Post-2015 education and development: contestation, contradictions and consensus (Yusuf Sayed and Terra Sprague); (2) Envisioning education in the post-2015 development agenda: thematic consultation on education in the post-2015 development agenda (UNESCO and UNICEF); (3) MDGs Post-2015 (David Turner); (4) Education, equity and social cohesion: the contribution of education to peace building in the post-2015 development goals (Alan Smith); (5) Education in emergencies post-2015: insights from quantitative research (Julia Paulson and Robin Shields); (6) Why well-trained and effective teachers should be central to education debates around the post-2015 development agenda (Purna Kumar Shrestha); (7) Secondary and higher education in the post-2015 framework (Elaine Unterhalter, Rosie Peppin Vaughan and Amy Smail); (8) Universal education or open education opportunities for all? (Frida Tungaraza, Margaret Sutherland and Niamh Stack); (9) Education and other sustainable development goals: a shifting agenda for comparative education (Angeline M. Barrett); (10) Commonwealth recommendations for the post-2015 development framework for education (Vasant K. Bunwaree); (11) Post-2015 education agenda: student voices (Sajjad Alhawsawi and Helen Hanna); (12) What's being overlooked in the post-2015 agenda for education? (Crain Soudien); and (13) A measurement agenda for the post-2015 education goals: what is most important? (Albert Motivans). Individual articles contain references and bibliographies.