Biography: Tamara Cumming is a senior lecturer in the School of Education at Macquarie
University, Australia. Tamara’s research focuses on the well-being and sustainability of Australia’s
early childhood workforce, interprofessional practice, and the complexity of educators’ practice
and ways of making this complexity visible.

Abstract: The past five years have seen dramatic challenges for Australia’s early childhood
education workforce. At the same time, there are also signs that long-required structural changes
are – at last – being seen as part of the responsibility of government rather than up to the mood of
the market to decide. In this presentation, I discuss how systems thinking – the idea that all parts
of a system are interconnected and interdependent – is evident in these moves, along with
possibilities these moves have opened, and might continue to open. I also discuss ways that
systems thinking challenges the emphasis of neo-liberal ideology on the individual, and the
influence of dominant discourses and binary thinking, that can restrict rather than open
possibilities. I will also draw on ways that systems thinking has influenced my own work on
educators’ well-being and the sustainability of the early childhood workforce.

Implications for children and families: Your experiences in early childhood education benefit from
approaches that recognise how we are all connected to each other and the world, and why we
need to consider and care about everyone.

Implications for practitioners: Thinking about how you, the children, their families and society are
all interdependent helps everyone thrive now and into the future.

Key words: theory, well-being, workforce issues, sustainability

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 4: Quality Education
• SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth