Teachers Pumping in Schools (Routledge Research in Education)

Teachers Pumping in Schools chronicles the daily, visceral experiences of US teachers balancing infant feeding and full-time work.

Based on interviews with K-12 teachers expressing milk at work in the United States, the author uses poetic inquiry to bring to life the journeys of teachers as they navigate time, space, and policies related to pumping and to parental leave. Teachers Pumping in Schools documents teachers sharing their joys, frustrations, advice, and movements to change the structure of schools to become more friendly to the bodily needs of lactating employees. Perspectives from public health officials, school administrators, and community experts further contextualize the problem of insufficient scheduling, inadequate space, and the lack of parental leave often encountered by lactating teachers. Grounded in feminist and social reproduction theories, the author illustrates how theory can be a practical tool for reimagining everyday practices within the current patriarchal, capitalist design of schools.

This forward-thinking volume is essential reading for researchers, activists, and educators interested in feminist theory, social reproduction theory, poetic inquiry, arts-based research methodology, and social justice education.

Elise Toedt is a researcher, poet, and teacher. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Writing Studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Her current research focuses on the embodied experiences of teachers in schools as they navigate time, space, and workplace policies related to lactation. Her wider research interests include: Carework and its place within capitalist systems, the impact of intersectional identities on teaching praxis, critical creative writing pedagogies, and feminist, arts-based research methodologies. Prior to her experience in higher education, Toedt taught secondary English for eight years in the Twin Cities, United States, and in Java, Indonesia.