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Circles of change revisited: building leadership, scholarship and professional identity in the children’s services sector

The field of children’s services in Australia is currently undergoing significant change. For example, the current implementation of the Early Years Reform Agenda encompasses the development of National Quality Standards, which promote a strong focus on workforce development. As a consequence, practitioners in this sector are being required to consistently reflect on their practice and often re-invent themselves in order to maintain their employment. This paper details a new and innovative strategy, which has been successful in facilitating transformational change. Entitled Circles of Change, the strategy has been embedded in class teaching, in field placement and in professional development with outstanding results. The authors contend that in the children’s services sector in Australia, strategies such as this one are crucial to the development of the workforce and, ultimately, to the provision of high-quality children’s services, particularly as a professionalised workforce is a rapidly growing concern.