The quality of the educational and care experiences that young children receive in early childhood settings depends on the quality and competence of the staff. Working professionally with young children, families and communities is complex, unpredictable, dynamic and demanding. The presentation draws, in part, from the study on the ‘competence requirements in early childhood education and care’ (CoRe), conducted by Mathias Urban and colleagues. The study identified systemic conditions for developing, supporting and maintaining competence. Becoming a competent early childhood educator is the result of a continuous learning process: a process through which one’s own practices and beliefs are constantly questioned in relation to changing contexts. It is proposed, in the presentation that each of us, at whatever layer of the early childhood system we inhabit, shift our focus from requirements to our responsibilities, from monitoring to modelling. The need to develop the idea of attentive belonging is proposed, where every player within this process must support each other in order for the system to deliver its full potential for children. The presentation addresses what the Institute of Education at DCU, is attempting to achieve in relation to modelling professional practice and ends with a manifestation of children as active agents.