School leaders who wish to support staff trying to conceive through fertility treatment could support their staff in a number of ways. Ideas for this type of staff wellbeing in schools are:
- Work with HR to create a flexible fertility treatment policy that permits teachers at least 6 days leave for IVF with room for this to be extended if required
- Provide the opportunity for in house counselling/ support to those experiencing infertility, fertility treatment, fertility issues and baby loss
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Encourage a fertility support network within the school for staff
- Invest in fertility education training
‘By putting the staff equal first with the students, you are doing the best you can do for the students. Any headteacher who claims she or he always puts students first probably hasn’t thought through in detail exactly what that means.’
Headteacher John Tomsett wrote in a Guardian article ‘By putting the staff equal first with the students, you are doing the best you can do for the students. Any headteacher who claims she or he always puts students first probably hasn’t thought through in detail exactly what that means.’
John Tomsett suggests leaders:
- offer free health insurance
- provide a family day of paid leave each academic year
- employ a qualified HR manager to look after staff
- invest in CPD
- grant part time hours to staff who need this
- have a wellbeing committee
Case study
Christine is a 35 year old teacher who lives in Ohio USA and has been teaching for 9 years.
Christine feels supported by the leadership team through her ongoing IVF treatment due to the heartfelt messages, conversations and gestures she has received.
She has been open about her infertility at work and claims that talking is her ‘therapy’. One of the Principles sent Christine a Starbucks gift card with a note that read ‘my heart hurts for you’.
Another Principle emailed ‘you’re in my prayers- do what you need to do’ after she requested the time to attend a fertility appointment. She was stopped on the corridor by the third Principle who asked her ‘how are you?’, and HR told her ‘good luck’ when she explained her reason for an upcoming appointments.
Open, non invasive questions, along with empathy and a demonstration of understanding has really helped Christine.
She feels accepted whilst battling infertility in a school that she hasn’t long worked at.
But is this enough?
These are the struggles Christine faces as a teacher going through fertility treatment:
- The juggling she has to do to make sure treatment doesn’t interfere with work too much
- Having a clinic appointment and then returning to the classroom to teach
- Worrying how parents are reacting to the three mornings off she has had
- Trying to allow herself to grieve and be a good teacher and not lose her job
At Christine’s school there us no fertility treatment policy. There is not the option for counselling and there is not a network of support.
Lack of training and therefore understanding around fertility issues means Christine’s employers are unable to appreciate just how difficult it is for her to balance treatment with work.
Work can get in the way of fertility treatment as much as treatment can get in the way of work.
Christine who is awaiting a frozen embryo transfer has decided to wait until the summer holidays to continue with treatment.
This decision has been because Christine doesn’t want work to come between fertility treatment and vice versa.
Fertility decreases with age. For women over the age of 35, there is a 23% chance of success that treatment will end in a live birth and this drops significantly more with women 38 and over (NHS 2021).
A supportive work environment would put intervention in place that allows their staff the best possible chance they have to have a family, so that employees don’t feel they must put their personal lives on hold for their career.
Christine has a leadership team who are to a certain extent providing the emotional wellbeing she needs. Fertility education and the right course of action in temporary flexible working could support Christine even more so.