A New Mindset for Leading Change

Throughout the MAECEL program so far, you have encountered many opportunities to consider how you can make a difference as a professional and as a leader in the field of early childhood education. As Fullan (1993) states, as educators our purpose is “to make a difference in the lives of students regardless of background, to help produce citizens who can live and work productively in increasingly dynamically complex societies” (p. 4). Meaning, you, as an early childhood education professional and leader, have incredible capacity and potential to be a change agent who makes a positive difference in the lives of young children. With this new mindset in mind, please respond to each of the following prompts to share your insights on influencing educational change through action research.

If you were to implement this study, what would be your next steps? How might implementation support better outcomes for young children and their families?

Given the conditions discussed in Chapter 7 of the Mills (2014) textbook, discuss how you could support these conditions in an organization from the perspective of your current or future role in early childhood education.

Share what it means to you to be a change agent in early childhood education and how you can leverage inquiry and research skills to promote quality education for young children.