Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Tamara Cumming is a Senior Lecturer with the Macquarie School of Education. Tamara has worked in the early childhood sector for over 15 years. Prior to becoming an academic she held positions as an early childhood educator, inclusion support manager and research officer in a children's services organisation.
Tamara’s research concerns the complexity of early childhood practice, and the well-being and sustainability of the early childhood workforce. She is co-leader of the Early Childhood Educator Well-being Project, and a Chief Investigator on the Exemplary Educators at Work ARC Linkage Project. Tamara supervises PhD students in the areas of early childhood workforce well-being, practice and leadership.
Research Interests
Tamara completed her PhD in 2015. Her thesis was titled 'Making visible ways that educators negotiate complexity in early childhood practice'. Her research interests include: early childhood educators' well-being, the complexity of educators' practice and the sustainability of the early childhood workforce.
Tamara is also available for contract research and evaluation. Together with colleagues she has completed evaluations for organisations including SDN Children's Services, The Samaritans Foundation, the National Community Hubs program, the Bathurst Child and Family Network and CareWest.
Professional Information
Tamara is a member of Early Childhood Australia and Organisation Mondiale pour l’Education Prescolaire (OMEP).
Education/Academic qualification
Sociology, Bachelor of Social Science Honours, Dynamics of Empowerment in a Human Services Organisation, Macquarie University
Award Date: 20 Jun 2022
Early Childhood Education, Doctor of Philosophy, Making Visible Early Childhood Educators' Ways of Negotiating Complexity, Charles Sturt University
Award Date: 16 Dec 2015
Government, History, Bachelor of Arts, University of Sydney
Award Date: 9 Feb 1993
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Dive into the research topics where Tamara Cumming is active. These topic labels come from the works of this person. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
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ECEWP: Early Childhood Educators' Well-being Project
Cumming, T., Wong, S., Bull, R., McFarland, L., MacQuarrie, A. & Woodland, K.
4/09/17 → …
Project: Research
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Early Childhood Education and Care Pay & Conditions Research
Degotardi, S., Cumming, T., Brand, N., Thornthwaite, L., Mitchell, R., Sinha, K., Gu, J. & Gu, Y.
13/03/23 → 30/10/23
Project: Research
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Followers and following in early childhood education workplaces: a narrative review of the followership literature
Brooker, M., Cumming, T. & Logan, H., Mar 2024, In: Educational Management Administration and Leadership. 52, 2, p. 325-341 17 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
4 Citations (Scopus) -
Investigating multi-tasking and task rotation as aspects of the complexity of early childhood educators’ work
Cumming, T., Richardson, S., Gibson, M., Crisp, K., Harrison, L., Press, F. & Wong, S., 2024, In: Early Years. 44, 1, p. 1-15 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile3 Citations (Scopus)21 Downloads (Pure) -
Refusing to silence early childhood voices: the establishment of the Early Childhood Voices Conference
McLeod, S., Gregoric, C., Cumming, T. & Downey, B., 2024, Early childhood voices: children, families, professionals. Mahony, L., McLeod, S., Salamon, A. & Dwyer, J. (eds.). Switzerland: Springer Science and Business Media B.V., p. 251-269 19 p. (International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development; vol. 42).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
1 Citation (Scopus) -
Supporting leaders in early childhood education settings: an evaluation of a clinical supervision program for centre directors
Wong, S., Bull, R., Cumming, T. & McFarland, L., 2024, In: Cogent education. 11, 1, p. 1-14 14 p., 2309749.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile3 Citations (Scopus)71 Downloads (Pure) -
Taking a detailed look at early childhood educators’ worktime
Harrison, L. J., Wong, S., Brown, J. E., Gibson, M., Cumming, T., Bittman, M. & Press, F., Jun 2024, In: Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. 49, 2, p. 95-113 19 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile25 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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Data and metadata for 'Early childhood educators’ wellbeing and physiological stress in the workplace: An exploratory study utilising wearable technology' - submitted 2024
Bull, R. (Owner), Wong, S. (Contributor) & Cumming, T. (Contributor), Macquarie University, 14 Aug 2024
DOI: 10.25949/26531203.v1
Dataset
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Dataset and metadata associated with Intention to Leave paper (submitted)
Bull, R. (Owner), Wong, S. (Contributor), Cumming, T. (Contributor), Woodland, K. (Contributor) & McFarland, L. (Contributor), Macquarie University, 30 May 2023
DOI: 10.25949/23208569.v1
Dataset
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Measures of early childhood educator well-being: when multiplicity becomes problematic
Salima Yeung (Speaker), Sandie Wong (Speaker) & Tamara Cumming (Speaker)
2021Activity: Talk or presentation › Presentation
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Micro-credential in Leading Learning with Advocacy.
Tamara Cumming (Speaker), Sandie Wong (Speaker) & Laura McFarland (Speaker)
2021Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
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Children's rights to a skilled, competent and well workforce
Sandie Wong (Speaker), Tamara Cumming (Speaker) & Helen Logan (Speaker)
2021Activity: Talk or presentation › Presentation
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Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (Journal)
Tamara Cumming (Editor)
2021 → 2023Activity: Peer-review and editorial of research outputs › Editorial work
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Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood (Journal)
Tamara Cumming (Member of editorial board)
2020 → 2025Activity: Peer-review and editorial of research outputs › Editorial work
Press/Media
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Unveiling the Influence of Work-Related Wellbeing and Workplace Culture on Intention to Leave in Early Childhood Education
Rebecca Bull, Sandie Wong & Tamara Cumming
11/07/24
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Other
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Disturbing levels of stress and injury among educators
27/10/21
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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Too many childcare centres and not enough workers to fill them, that's the problem facing the early education industry
28/05/21
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
Impacts
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Evidence of Impact Victorian Department of Education
Tamara Cumming (Participant)
Impact: Policy impacts
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Use of dataset to inform policy - Early Childhood Education
Rebecca Bull (Participant), Sandie Wong (Participant) & Tamara Cumming (Participant)
Impact: Policy impacts