3 ways to support teachers having fertility treatment
3 ways to support teachers having fertility treatment
Teachers receiving fertility treatment often lack support from schools, making an emotionally and physically exhausting process even harder, says Emma Sheppard
Almost 60,000 people in the UK have fertility treatment every year, with success rates varying from 14-22 per cent, depending on the type of fertility treatment undertaken.
Even though this figure has risen year on year for the past four years, fertility treatment remains an emotionally and physically gruelling process.
This is especially true for women hoping to become birth mothers, who bear the brunt of the physical interventions and examinations involved.
In a performative career like teaching, emotional resilience and a certain degree of sangfroid can be essential to managing challenging classes, communicating with parents or effectively fulfilling leadership roles. It is understandable, therefore, that many teachers might want to keep fertility treatment and its effects private: shielding themselves from unwelcome questions, well-meaning but upsetting comments, or even abuse or discrimination from colleagues and students in order to keep going, or protect themselves, at a vulnerable time.
But while it is essential that personal boundaries are respected, the inability to divulge information about such an impactful experience can leave teachers feeling unsure about their rights or how best to take care of themselves.
Support for teachers having fertility treatment
Practically, fertility procedures vary depending on the reasons for infertility, or the stage of the fertility journey, and clumsy assumptions such as “doing it in the holidays” or “appointments after school” can reveal an ignorance regarding the complexities of the human body and the schedules of most fertility clinics.
Once NHS criteria have been met, and the three-cycle allowance exhausted, fertility treatment is also very expensive, so the need to remain in work during this difficult time can heighten stress levels further.
So, what should schools do?
1. Get informed
For line managers and school leaders keen to support their staff, reading around such processes can be a good first step to understanding the need for specific appointment times, the hormone injections involved, recovery times following any physical interventions and the emotional impact of losing a baby, or learning of a failed cycle.
2. Provide flexibility
Olu, an English teacher in London*, reflected that the most difficult part was the mental and emotional exhaustion, and the unfamiliarity of her first cycle.
She hadn’t realised, for example, that she might receive phone calls with embryo updates and potentially bad news during the school day, just before facing a class full of students.
Nazmin, the head of a humanities department in the East of England*, explained how the support from a select number of individuals helped with her day-to-day needs: covering classes when she arrived from early morning appointments “in a bit of a state”, and ensuring that sixth-form students who had put two and two together knew not to probe her on the topic.
Watch: a webinar from the fertility charity the Fertility Network
For some school leaders, the requirement to support their staff with compassion and understanding through their fertility journey is just part and parcel of their leadership roles.
Kyrah, a primary school teacher in the North West*, praised her school for “putting staff wellbeing at the forefront” and for the empathetic way in which they handled her requests surrounding her second round of IVF, adding that such an attitude pays dividends in staff loyalty.
However, in many schools, the consideration of even beginning such a process, let alone feeling supported by school leadership, is unthinkable.
Valerie, a science teacher in Essex, was so reluctant to inform her “archaic headteacher and unsympathetic head of department” that she made 70-mile round trips before school and queued outside the hospital door, suffering panic attacks as she coped with trying to juggle her work and personal life.
3. Create a policy
The law does little to prevent such horror stories, with the absence of any government policies that protect the rights of employees hoping to conceive through fertility treatment. The closest guidance available is the best practice shared by ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) and the EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission), which encourages employers to consider time off for fertility appointments the same as any other medical appointment or sickness.
But while receiving fertility treatment might constitute a medical intervention, it isn’t a “sickness”, and - even in the most supportive of schools - labelling it as such can be hurtful.
The EHRC advises establishing “procedures for allowing time off for IVF and fertility treatment”, and creating a Fertility Leave Policy can be a powerful way of demonstrating a commitment to a compassionate and humane working environment.
Such a policy needs to outline employees’ entitlements clearly and sensitively, and provide opportunities for training for line managers and school leaders.
With such a policy, the decision to divulge information regarding fertility treatment remains firmly in the staff member’s hands, but a school with a formalised policy is making an important and clear statement about their attitude to inclusion and staff wellbeing.
*Names, titles and locations have been changed.
Emma Sheppard is founder of The MaternityTeacher/ PaternityTeacher (MTPT) Project and a lead practitioner for English
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