One full round: What teaching through IVF Takes

This is the final episode of the series and it is one that I originally recorded for the F Word at Work podcast, but I am so glad it is finding its home here. As we head into summer and those of you in education start to think about fitting treatment around the school calendar, I wanted to make sure this conversation reached you.

I am joined by Caroline Biddle and Devon-Louise Oakley-Hogg, both teachers, both with their own lived experience of fertility treatment, and both co-founders of One Full Round: a campaign to bring fair, funded fertility leave to schools across the UK. Together they have developed a free model policy that any school can adopt, which has already been taken on by the Avanti Schools Trust, making it the first multi-academy trust in the country to offer full paid fertility treatment leave.

Devon's story is particularly raw and honest. She stopped treatment two years ago at the age of 30, having spent £25,000 and gone through three rounds of egg collection without success. She talks about what it felt like to get devastating embryology phone calls at break time and then walk straight back into a Year 11 classroom. Caroline's story ended with a successful outcome, but the decade it took to get there, including having her pay docked when appointment letters started saying 'fertility' instead of 'gynae', shaped everything that One Full Round is now trying to change.

Content note: This episode includes discussion of male factor infertility, azoospermia, failed IVF cycles, embryo loss and the decision to stop treatment.

What we discuss in this episode:

• Caroline's experience of having her pay cut mid-treatment when appointment letters changed from 'gynaecological' to 'fertility' and the headteacher's response when she raised it
• Why the line manager relationship in schools works differently: it is the headteacher, not the line manager, who has the final say
• Devon's fertility journey: her husband's azoospermia diagnosis, three rounds of egg collection, £25,000 spent, and the decision to stop treatment at 30
• The phone calls from the embryologist at break time, and having to walk into a Year 11 class immediately after
• Why Devon says she does not yet feel ready to consider parenthood because she has not yet got back to who she was before treatment
• The guilt that comes from being a teacher going through fertility treatment: letting down your classes, taking sick leave, going in ill after egg collection
• What Caroline's 2022 survey of more than 120 teachers found: guilt was one of the most recurring themes in over 3,200 words of open comments
• Why a written fertility policy matters even in schools that 'already let everyone go to appointments'
• What the One Full Round model policy actually covers: one full round of treatment from investigations to embryo transfer, paid leave, partner leave, and provisions for a cancelled cycle
• How Avanti Schools Trust became the first trust in the country to adopt the policy, offering six weeks of full paid fertility leave
• Why some schools resist the policy and why they are short-sighted to do so
• The recruitment and retention crisis in teaching and why 9,000 women left between the ages of 30 and 39 in a single year
• Gen Z teachers checking for fertility and wellbeing policies before accepting jobs
• One Full Round's ambassador programme: free training, resources and templates for teachers who want to take the policy to their school
• Devon's PhD in student misogyny towards teachers and how it connects to the wider picture
• The Keeping Women in Teaching conference and the issues it set out to address: menstruation, misogyny, menopause and infertility
• Caroline's PhD research into line managers and the support they offer women going through fertility treatment
• Fertility Matters at Work and why the workplace fertility conversation has shifted significantly in the last decade

Also mentioned in this episode

• Follow One Full Round @onefullround
• Fertility Matters at Work: fertilitymattersatwork.com
• Am I Overreacting? Podcast with Annabel Gurnett and Amber: @amioverreactingpod on Instagram
• Alice McDonald's Fertility Pledge: fertilitypledge.co.uk
• Dr Krista Wilkinson's research on fertility treatment in the workplace: Dr Krista Wilkinson on LinkedIn

Support and resources

The Fertility Podcast is the official podcast for Fertility Action, a charity providing free peer support groups, education and campaigning for fairer access to fertility treatment. Groups run every week with no sign-up or commitment needed.

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Email: natalie@thefertilitypodcast.com

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Thank you, as always, for your ear holes. Until next time