Exploring perceived barriers to accessing menopause support in teaching and the resultant impact on mental wellbeing; an exploratory sequential mixed-

The proposed research project aims to identify perceived barriers for teachers accessing menopause support and the impact of these barriers on teacher mental wellbeing. Menopause is inadequately supported within teaching with detrimental consequences to mental health, job retention and job satisfaction (National Education Union, 2019). Teaching is a woman dominated profession undergoing a retention crisis (Department for Education, 2018). Women's health and wellbeing in teaching should be at the forefront of research to ensure better quality provision is available to support mental health, physical health and job retention. This study will use an exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach (Schoonenboom & Johnson, 2017), with a basis in a phenomenology methodology; data will be analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009). There is limited research of women teacher experiences of menopausal support and the experiences of women directly affected should be heard. Stigmatised female conditions are often not acknowledged and misunderstood (Guekes et al., 2016); this study aims to raise awareness through identifying barriers to support and by developing meaningful data that explores the perceptions and experiences of menopausal women.