OECD education systems place a premium on high-quality teaching and look to strengthen the attractiveness of the teaching profession in the mid- to long-term. This paper considers if, when and under what circumstances new or ameliorated inter-professional and cross-sectoral collaborations may strengthen the teaching profession. It also introduces “personas” as a tool to illuminate how various stakeholders may respond to a given policy. This tool can inform smarter policy design and implementation choices. Based on the literature within and outside the education sector and concrete, cutting-edge examples, the paper identifies common facilitating features and proposes a set of guiding principles that can aid policy makers and practitioners in decisions related to the introduction or development of cross-sector or inter-professional collaborations. The paper concludes that cross-sector and inter-professional collaborations, under certain circumstances, can strengthen the teaching profession, by supporting, attracting and retaining a diverse teacher workforce and improving student outcomes.