Simply providing and attending professional development and training opportunities enhances quality in early childhood education, or whether the education actual practices are a better indication. It reports on research that examined factors impaeting on early childhood' realisation of professional development once participants returned to their organisation. Using case studies, the paper points to a range of factor education identified as either enabling or hindering endeavours to practise and sustain new understanding within their early childhood service. It concludes by recommending a number of strategies that lead to more effective realisation of professional development opportunities, including the importance of continued dialogue with all stakeholders about understandings of effective professional development in the field of early childhood education.