The new book from Dr William DeJean
Yes. But Is It Sticking?
Leading Early Childhood Change That Lasts in the Era of Overwhelm
You’re investing in professional learning, reflection and quality improvement. But is it changing practice?
Yes. But Is It Sticking? introduces a practical, embedded approach that helps learning translate into changed practice and supports sustainable improvement over time.
Coming 24 February
Why this book, and why now?
Create more sustainable improvement
- Learning that translates into practice
- A practical approach to continuous quality improvement
- A shared language for leaders and teams
- More purposeful reflection
- Greater consistency across rooms, teams and services
- Better return on investment from professional learning
- Bigger impact, with less mental load
The answer is not doing more.
It’s helping the learning and improvement work you’re already doing become embedded.
Why This Book?
If you’re responsible for leading learning, reflection or quality improvement, this book is for you.
Because the challenge isn’t finding more ideas.
Continuous quality improvement doesn’t happen because teams have more meetings or complete more documents. It happens when learning becomes embedded and translates into changed practice.
When that change becomes part of everyday practice, improvement can be sustained over time.
That’s what this book is about.
“This book provides a practical system that helps professional learning be understood by everyone and, importantly, stick.
By supporting everyone to “lift the weights,” it helps create more collaborative teams, shared responsibility and the thoughtful practice that can sustain us in this Era of Overwhelm.
Thank you, William!”
Wendy Shepherd,
Executive Director of Education Harbour Early Learning
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- Professional Learning
- Meetings
- Reflection
- Quality Improvement
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- Shared Language
- Embedded Approach
- Collective Responsibility
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Changed Practice
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Continuous Quality Improvement
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Impact That Endures
“While external professional learning opportunities and events may be relevant, have value and feel inspiring at the time, the learning doesn’t necessarily stick, have impact, or support meaningful change and quality improvement.
…This book shows how leaders can embed meaningful learning in regular and ongoing professional conversations… [so] critical ideas are retained, understood, and translated into everyday practice.”
Lorraine Madden
Coach, consultant and former early childhood teacher and inclusion support professional
Who is Dr. William DeJean?
Dr. William DeJean is the founder and CEO of Unleash Learning and host of Unleash Learning TV and Radio.
He began his career over 25 years’ ago as a high school teacher in San Diego, winning the 2003 San Diego Teacher of the Year Award. Dr. DeJean has since taught at universities across Australia and the USA, developing a unique international perspective on education.
Now based in Sydney, he travels globally to support schools and organisations through Unleash Learning.
Beyond the book: Putting learning into practice
Because professional learning only makes a difference when it changes what we do.
Yes. But Is It Sticking? is designed to help leadership teams move from reading to reflection and action.
Your copy includes:
- Leadership Discussion Guide to help teams explore the ideas together
Practical resources to help strengthen everyday practice and embed improvements that last.
Quality improvement shouldn’t feel like another thing on your to-do list.
It’s about making meaningful change part of everyday practice, strengthening what we do and building a culture where teams continue to learn, grow and improve together.
Embed quality. Strengthen practice. Create change that lasts.
Ready to make meaningful improvement feel more achievable?
FAQs
Yes. But Is It Sticking? is for leaders who are responsible for helping learning, reflection and improvement take hold across a team, service or organisation.
That includes Centre Directors, Educational Leaders, Pedagogical Leaders, Area Managers, CEOs, Learning and Development leaders and leadership teams working in early childhood education and care.
If you’re investing time and energy into professional learning, quality improvement and building stronger practice, and you want that learning to translate into lasting change, this book is for you.
The Era of Overwhelm is Dr William DeJean’s way of describing an environment where leaders and teams are navigating competing priorities, constant change and increasingly full plates.
It was a central theme in A New Way Forward for Schools. Yes. But Is It Sticking? brings that thinking into early childhood education and care, asking a related question: how do we create meaningful change that becomes embedded in everyday practice and lasts?
Yes. But Is It Sticking? will be released on 24 February. Join the waitlist to receive ordering information and launch updates.
Many leadership books focus on new ideas, strategies or initiatives.
This book focuses on a different question:
How do we make the learning we’re already investing in stick?
Rather than introducing another framework to implement, Yes. But Is It Sticking? explores how learning becomes embedded in everyday practice, helping leaders create sustainable improvement over time.
The goal isn’t simply to learn something new. The goal is to see learning translate into changed practice.
Continuous quality improvement doesn’t happen because teams attend a workshop, complete a Quality Improvement Plan or hold a staff meeting. It happens when learning leads to changed practice, that practice becomes embedded and teams continue reflecting, refining and improving over time.
This book introduces a practical approach to helping learning move beyond professional development sessions and become part of everyday work, supporting genuine continuous quality improvement across teams, services and organisations.
The National Quality Framework places strong emphasis on reflection, improvement, leadership and ongoing professional learning. Yes. But Is It Sticking? supports these priorities by helping leaders create an embedded approach to learning and improvement.
Rather than treating quality improvement as a separate activity, the book explores how reflection, learning and improvement can become part of an organisation’s everyday culture and practice.
Yes. The book combines practical examples and an implementation approach to help leaders apply the ideas within their own context.
The companion resources provide additional prompts and tools that leadership teams can use to explore and apply the ideas together.
Absolutely. In fact, the ideas in the book are often most powerful when leadership teams engage with them collectively!
The companion resources are intended to support team conversations, shared reflection and collaborative action planning.
Bulk ordering options are expected to be available when Yes. But Is It Sticking? is released on 24 February. Further details will be shared closer to release.
