Why is Accommodating Pregnant Teachers Important?
- Approximately 70% of teachers are women.
- Around 75% of women will experience a pregnancy during their career.
A VAST majority of teachers will go through the struggles of being a pregnant teacher!
It’s no secret that teachers are leaving the profession at an alarming rate. Research has also shown that about 43 percent of mothers end up leaving the workforce at some point.
Considering these statistics, school leaders desperately need to support pregnant and postpartum teachers. Retaining new moms can be tough. But, mothers who feel valued by their leaders are more likely to return to work after maternity leave. Continued support may help them remain in the workforce, even through those tough years as a new mom.
Furthermore, supporting pregnant employees is the law. According to the new Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, employers must accommodate pregnant employees.
"I've got a school to run! How can I accommodate the requests of every pregnant teacher?"
I hear you! As a teacher, I went through two pregnancies within 3 academic years. Thanks to the pandemic, they were also some of the craziest 3 years the education world has seen.
On top of navigating the pandemic, I was learning how to be a mom and balancing teaching 14 grade levels. (Yes, you read that right. 14 different grades. I taught PreK-12th grade music.)
Unfortunately, I was doing all this with an unsupportive administrator. She wasn’t unsupportive on purpose. She didn’t understand what I needed. Or, she didn’t think she could accommodate my needs without compromising elsewhere.
That’s why I help administrators learn to better support pregnant and postpartum teachers. These are delicate months and years for a new mom. A little bit of support can go a long way. It doesn’t have to mean rearranging an entire school schedule or combining 60 kids into a room.
Read on for a list of needs many pregnant teachers may encounter. Each need also has ideas for simple accommodations.
5 Needs of Pregnant Teachers and How to Accommodate Them
1. Extra Restroom Breaks
- Acknowledge this struggle up front and make a plan. Don’t make her come to you asking for restroom breaks (how embarrassing!)
- Find a way to provide coverage at regular intervals. Use an aide, teammate, or other staff member. You may need to be creative. But it is important to provide that coverage for an occasional 2-minute potty break.
- Assign someone that the teacher can call if they need an emergency break. This should be someone who doesn’t have students and could step away for a few minutes. A few ideas are the bookkeeper, a guidance counselor, or an academic coach. (These people may even welcome a few minutes away from their desk!)
2. Relief During Times of Sickness
- First of all, ask how she’s doing. Find out if she has been experiencing sickness.
- Be sure she knows who to call if she feels ill and needs coverage.
- If a teacher has sickness at a certain time of day, rearrange their duties such as bus duty, hall monitoring, etc.
- Try allowing them to switch duties with another teacher. For example, could they have restroom monitoring instead of bus duty so they are near a toilet or trash can? Can they have an afternoon duty instead of the morning?
3. Dress Code Requirements
- Let her know that you will be lenient with dress code requirements during pregnancy.
- Allow stretchy athletic pants or scrub pants.
- Allow tennis shoes for better support.
- Allow open-toed shoes since women’s feet often swell.
4. Less Standing & Walking
- Let her know that it’s ok to sit more! Encourage it, even.
- Lower expectations of proximity to students and standing during instruction. Do not lower evaluation scores due to a lack of walking around the room during a lesson.
- Provide a stool or other comfortable chair she can sit on while she teaches.
- Provide alternative options for getting students to lunch and classes such as PE. Can another teacher help supervise students in the hallway?
- Assign monitoring duties where she can sit down.
5. An Atmosphere of Support
- Check in with her on a regular basis. Ask how her pregnancy is going. Ask what she needs and offer to help.
- Pick a random day to relieve her from morning duty or drop in to cover her class during recess. These random acts from an administrator can go a long way!
- Assign a mentor who has also had a baby in the past few years.
More Ideas
Professional Development Opportunities!
- Understanding the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and the PUMP Act
- Creating a document to send to teachers after they announce their pregnancy
- Helping teachers prepare for maternity leave
- Supporting breastfeeding teachers
- Supporting teachers with young children
- And more!
