Early childhood educators’ experiences in their work environments: Shaping (im)possible ways of being an educator?

Authors

  • Tamara Cumming Charles Sturt University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/cmplct23068

Abstract

Efforts to support early childhood workforce stability over many years, and across many national contexts have had limited success. Research and policy attention appears to be shifting to ways of supporting the sustainability of the early childhood workforce, and, ways that educators’ experiences in their work environments might be implicated in these issues. The purpose of this paper is to explore the complex interrelations between educators’ work environments and their experiences, as an entryway for thinking differently about workforce sustainability. A rhizoanalytic approach is used to explore one educator’s experiences in her work environment, through readings of visual, textual and affective data. The readings of (im)possible ways of being an educator shaped by this work environment,  are then used as prompts for thinking differently about workforce stability and sustainability. The paper concludes with calls for an approach to supporting workforce stability and sustainability, that is based on the recognition of the interrelatedness and mutual interests of children, educators, families and governments.

Author Biography

Tamara Cumming, Charles Sturt University

Tamara Cumming is a PhD student and Lecturer with the School of Teacher Education at Charles Sturt University Australia. Her research focuses on the sustainability of the early childhood workforce and the complexity of educators' practice.

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Published

2015-03-03

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2015)

Section

Research Articles

License

© Copyright 2014. The author assigns to Complicity the University of Alberta and other educational and non-profit institutions a non-exclusive license to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The author also grants a non-exclusive license to the University of Alberta to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web, and for the document to be published on mirrors on the World Wide Web. Any other usage is prohibited without the express permission of the author.