In 2019, Channel 4 announced that it was introducing a menopause policy to help women to navigate the workplace while undergoing a major hormonal change, and shortly afterwards other companies followed suit. While any advancement in menopause support is an important step forward, many of these policies only really apply to those who work in desk-based roles, in an office.

A major aspect of the guidance for menopause in the workplace is to allow people to work from home. But as we all know, working from home as a teacher is difficult, if not impossible. So how can schools support their menopausal staff?

Support for school staff suffering the menopause

1. Bathroom cover 

Menopause is understood to be the end of the menstrual cycle, but often before it ends, periods become heavier and less predictable. One small request from our Now Teachers is to be able to request emergency cover - ideally by email - for a few minutes, so they can go to the bathroom during lessons if they need to. 

More on menopause support:

• The menopause is real, so why don’t we talk about it?

• Schools must act to end the damaging taboo around menopause

• How to manage the menopause as a teacher

2. Temperature control 

One of the most famous symptoms of the menopause is experiencing hot flushes: randomised rises in your body temperature that can be extremely uncomfortable. Teachers who are experiencing this might benefit from something as small as being given a fan for their classroom or making sure that the classroom windows can be properly opened.

3. Flexibility 

All teachers know that it’s not an especially flexible job and taking time off during term isn’t ideal. But if you’re unwell, you are unwell. Teachers tell us that they could have saved themselves a great deal of stress if they had taken even a couple of days of sick leave at the hardest part of their menopause. It’s important to make sure that staff understand menopause to be a legitimate reason to take sick leave. 

4. Menopause policy 

Some schools object to the idea that they must have a policy “for everything”. But a menopause policy is increasingly common. It doesn’t have to be a huge piece of work. The NEU teaching union has a model policy that you can download from its website and adapt to suit your school.

Just having a policy in place is likely to encourage teachers to seek help when they need it. 

5. Talking about it 

It sounds simple enough, but there’s still a stigma around the menopause, as there is with anything vaguely gynaecological. For many teachers, the major difference they would request is the establishment of a culture of discussion in schools about menopause. “The majority of the people I work with are in their thirties,” one teacher told us. “They don’t really know what the menopause entails.”

Katie Waldegrave is the co-founder of Now Teach

Now Teach helps people with significant career experience transition into teaching. You can find out more here