Overview

Teachers Pumping in Schools chronicles the daily, visceral experiences of U.S. 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. The book 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, 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 and arts-based research methodology, and social justice education.

Full Product Details

9781041028734

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Reviews

“In highlighting the stories of teachers who face pumping at work, Toedt brings their hidden labor into view.” Dr Mandie Bevels Dunn, Assistant Professor, The University of South Florida

Author Information

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, parental leave, and childcare. Her wider research interests include: Care work and its place within capitalist systems, the impact of intersectional identities on teaching praxis, critical creative writing pedagogies, and feminist, arts-based research methodologies. Toedt’s creative and scholarly work has been published in books and in a range of research journals, including International Review of Qualitative Research, English Journal, and Learning for Justice. Her poetry collection Making Home was published by Finishing Line Press in 2025. Prior to her experience in higher education, Toedt taught secondary English for eight years in urban public schools in Minnesota, United States and in Java, Indonesia.

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