After our conversation at Frank Hobbs Elementary today I am wondering about other people's opinions regarding teacher attire. Our group was discussing what attire is appropriate for teachers and how we can establish ourselves as professionals with the clothing that we wear. Some people raised the point that dress clothing may be difficult when working with younger children or while doing art. In my elementary school experience all my teachers wore dress clothes and changed appropriately according to our activity. Both the teachers and the students had art shirts that we would all put on over top of our clothes to make sure our clothes wouldn't get ruined. There are ways to go about looking professional and still being able to participate in activities with students.
I think that it is important to dress in a professional manner because we are professionals. It doesn't necessarily mean that we have to wear suits and high heels, but I don't think that workout clothing is appropriate clothing all the time. Obviously if a teacher is teaching PE then they will change into active wear and may not be able to change for the rest of the day. Having a day like a casual Friday is a good idea so that casual clothes can be worn once a week.
What are your thoughts and feelings on this topic?
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16 comments:
I agree with Chelsea’s thoughts on appropriate clothing for teachers. I too understand that (hopefully) everyone in our seminar will want to be a “hands on” teacher… but that doesn’t necessarily mean your wardrobe has to show it. This opinion might be brought on by my dress code requirements at Thrifty Foods Head Office. We must at all times, unless it is a “Jeans Day”, be in office attire. Comparing our “office attire” to others, our dress code is quite fancy, because Mr. Campbell believed that we are representing the company, his family and all of the employees every time we step into the building. I agree with his thoughts because as Teachers we are now professionals, we are representing the school, the district, and the community as well as the many families that walk through the doors everyday.
Over the last couple years I have noticed a decline in the professional wear of the teachers. When I was in elementary school I remember how well dressed our teachers were and I remember comparing them to the attire of some of my high school teachers. Most of my high school teachers looked like students themselves. Looking back there seems to be a gap in the age groups… my older teachers (although their style was extremely outdated) were dressed as though they were ready to attend a meeting with a teacher or principle at any given time. Our young teachers (new to the career) were dressed very professionally; however, the teachers who have been in the profession for around the 10 year mark seemed to test the waters by being a little more lenient on the attire.
A question in regards to the last comment of my post.
Why is there such a gap in the age of the professionals and their wardrobe?
Although I agree with the comments that Chelsea and Nicole have made, I think that teachers are a different kind of professional than many others who share the same title. For example, whereas the doctor has one responsibility, i.e. to preserve life and the dignity thereof (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath), a teacher acts "in loco parentis" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_loco_parentis), which is to say that he or she is responsible for the moral, physical, intellectual, emotional, (etc. etc.) development of the child. I think that this status should have some translation into the way that we dress. Is there one dress code which applies equally to all parents of all children at all times in all places? Perhaps not. I think that the dress of the teacher is professional when it conveys care and attention to the child. This means that the teacher who is taking children on a walk through the forest (http://home.q07.itscom.net/tokyuenv/english_page/clip_image005.jpg) is professional when he or she wears a raincoat and hat, because the child is given an appropriate model of how to protect one's body from rain and ticks. Likewise, the phys. ed. teacher is more professional when he or she changes into ankle-supporting running shoes, than when he or she wears high-heeled shoes or loafers during demonstrations. I think that these examples are pretty obvious, but there are some situations that might seem a little more ambiguous. What should the teacher wear when reading? Obviously, if we suppose that public schools are preparatory grounds for office workers, then slacks with creases showing and tucked in shirts are appropriate. However, I begin to question this notion when I consider both the demographics of schools that I have attended, and the impacts of new technologies. It seems to me that if the teacher wears clothing which models to children how they should dress for work, then my primary school teachers ought to have worn oil-slicked coveralls or carhards (http://www.sacksstore.com/carhards.htm), since more than twenty-five out of the thirty people from my would-have-been graduating class went into trades school. However, I think that this solution isn't realistic either. Neither is it safe to say that a teacher should dress as the child's parents would in their home or in the city, as dress demonstrates both personal and social identity, and even these may vary according to the climate, size, and orientation of a community. I think that the rules for dress cannot be generalized. When we start to do that, dangerous things happen, such as when school staff are required to remove headscarves, necklaces, and turbans. As for my teachers...they kept gym-strip bag, spare socks, and a dressed-up change of clothes in the cloakroom!
In regards to the previous posts contributed by Chelsea, Nicole, and Alison on professional attire, I believe teachers should wear dress clothing on a regular basis. In saying this, I consider teachers to be professionals and believe that professional attire is a positive representation of your school and district. Most businesses enforce a professional dress code because they would like their staff to represent the business in a positive light. In a sense, I believe schools are somewhat like a business. In schools teachers are selling to parents the best education they can provide for their children and I believe professional attire helps to portray sophistication, organization, and success which are all characteristics that link to good education.
I do agree with Erin in the point that teachers should wear nice clothes most of the time, however I would challenge the idea that a school is a business whose job it is to sell their product to the school. I checked out the dress code for several private schools, in fact. What I found was that many of them required teachers to wear a kind of uniform. For the early years, (up to age seven,) some teachers were given something similar to scrubs to wear while they were on site. The uniform for the teachers of older students was simply cut and allowed freedom of movement. The school also sold uniform teacher gym strips. This way, the need for community members to feel respected by the teacher's care for dress was respected, while being realistic about what one should wear while teaching. Guidelines for teacher attire for meetings and trips were also given. I think that teachers sometimes convey their organization through other elements of their dress than their clothes. We had one P.E. teacher, (at a public school,) who wore t-shirts and trainers but her hair was always styled and she wore make-up. Another teacher wears simple dark colour clothing but keeps a scarf and jacket to put on for assemblies and at the beginning and end of the day. Thinking of one teacher that I worked with, (at a private school,) I recall that she wore themed clothing. If we were going to be studying birds, she wore a shirt with an embroidered bird on it and a hat with a feather. I'm not sure that "costuming" portrays reduced attention to personal attire or enthusiasm for one's work. Frankly speaking, I was planning on wearing a lab coat to teach science. Because of changing technologies, teachers are competing for the visual attention of students. What do you think about this idea?
I disagree with everyone! (What else is new?) I think that back in the day teachers were required to wear professional attire and that may be the reason that many of our memories of our teachers have pictures of them wearing their 80's - style business suits. I think that teaching in a public school nowadays does not require teachers to wear "business clothing." I believe that a NICE pair of jeans, comfortable shoes, and a shirt (doesn't have to be button up) is appropriate for work. Putting myself in the shoes of a parent, I would rather see my child's teacher wearing clothes that made that teacher feel comfortable interacting with the children, and subject matter, than dressed to the nines and concerned about getting involved. I think that wearing business clothes signifys an uptight teacher, and I believe that due to the casual nature of schools in the 2000's, business wear is a ridiculous dress code to enforce on teachers. More interactive and child-centred teaching methods call for teachers to wear clothing that will make them appear more accessible to their students by participating in the same learning activities.
I think everyone has made some good points on this topic but I tend to side with Carmen.
I do think, however, that when teaching the middle years and high school it is more appropriate to dress in office-like attire. However, in the elementary grades i feel that it doesn't need to be quite so formal. Not to say i would wear my street clothes to teach, but dressing conservatively, in a nice sweater and dress pants for example, would be appropriate for this age group. You will be moving around all day with young students so being comfortable is important. (ie heels might not be a good idea every day!) I do think there is a line that should be drawn between dressing like described and being too casual! I don't want to be one of those teachers that end up wearing flashy clown sweatshirts "because the kids like it"!
It is important to look professional but dressing in full suits is not always necessary when teaching elementary school.
I also really agree with the point made by Chelsea in regards to our appropriate attire. It never occurred to me to even think about how I was dressing for our school visits. I mean really the only person who is losing out on not dressing up a little, in my opinion, is just letting themselves down.
Any opportunity we have as student teachers to show/ put ourselves on display, so to say, we should take advantage of and try to make a good impression.
Here I am wearing my lulu's to every school visit we have gone on so far and after thinking about our discussion on professional dress wear I am a little bit embarrassed and regretful.
Although I feel like dressing up would have been a better idea, I do not think that it is really going to effect me in the long run.
I know from experience (observing teachers/ looking back on several of my school teachers) that it is fairly simple to dress up without having to feel uncomfortable, it really doesn't mean you have to wear a skirt and high heals just choose black slacks over jeans or in many of our cases instead of lulu's (hehe!) I know lulu pants are so comfy but so can more sophisticated clothing as well.
We are representing the University of Victoria and it would probably look better if we appeared more professional. Anyone can dress up, you just need to find outfits that work for you and perhaps buy a pair of dress shoes that don't have a big heal etc.
Well we will see how our next visit goes and if you decide to wear those lulus thats fine too, it is in the end really up to you what you decide to or feel is most comfortable/appropriate to wear.
-Sheyla
A lot of good points made by everyone. I always thought it was important to dress professionally as a teacher so that teachers, students, and parents would know you take your job seriously, but I have changed my mind.
A year ago, when I was teaching one of the kite workshops to a grade 6 class, the teacher was wearing worn jeans, a hoodie and runners. I thought to myself then that I was never going to be a casually dressed teacher. I have since decided that I'm not going to be a professionally dressed teacher either! How am I going to dress? Well, I think a teacher should dress in a way they feel comfortable... to a point.
I think teachers can dress casual and still look "nice". Jeans, khakis, maybe even lulus (well maybe not), can be worn in a way that looks appropriate for teaching.
So, my position on this would be somewhere in the middle. Teachers should dress professionally without dressing too professionally. Someone who I think balances this very well is our literature professor Alexander. She always looks fashionable, comfortable, and professional.
After reading all of the posts I honestly don't know how I feel about this topic. I can begin by saying that no, I do not think Lulu's are appropriate to wear. I do think that it is important to represent ourselves in a professional manner, because no matter how you look at it we are professionals. We are also an example to our students. If the teacher show's up to class every day in their sweats, what does this portray about the enthusiasm of the teacher to the students? I also think that we are lucky in this profession because we don't have a strict dress code like in business for example. But I do not think that we can take advantage of this either.
With that said, we cannot lump all teachers together as a whole. No two teachers have the same teaching philosophies and teachers shouldn't be required to look the same either. I think that as professionals we have individual personal opinions on what we feel is appropriate to wear to class. Let's face it, people judge one another by how they dress, and I want to be respected. I probably have a different opinion on what is respectable clothing to wear than others and thats ok.
To sum up, what I am trying to say is that I do think some consideration should be made to the point that we are professionals setting an example for our students and I think we have a responsibility to look the part. But I also feel a teacher should wear what they feel best represents how they want to be portrayed.
In response to all that has been said on this topic, I would have to say that I agree most with what has been said by both Alison and Carmen. I think Alison brought up a really key point in noting that as teachers, we are not "professionals" in quite the same manner as those I think most of us are picturing when we speak of "professional attire". Alison said, "I think that the dress of the teacher is professional when it conveys care and attention to the child". I think this is bang-on when we are concerning ourselves with what we will wear as teachers. Personally, as a learner, I try not to judge the quality of the information being presented to me on the basis of what the presenter looks like, although this is definitely a hard task, as it is human nature to use what we see to interpret our own meanings.
When considering the impression I will be making as a new teacher, I am first and foremost cocnerned with how my students perceive me (based on how I present myself) and I think that in considering the ages we will most likely be interacting with, "professional" dress is not nearly as important. For our colleagues, supervisors, and parents, however, I realize this may be a different story - they will be judging us on a very different set of criteria (once again, based on our personal presentation) than most of our students would.
I also would like to vehemently challenge the concept of a public school as a business. While it may be easy to make that connection due to our capitalistic tendencies, I personally think that that connection should never be made when regarding universal education - private and post-secondary is another matter altogether, though. And so, in keeping with this, I would argue that as a definite non-business institution, it is not necessary for teachers to dress in professional office-type wear. In that same vein, however, I would expect that any teacher would have the common sense to know how to dress in an appropriate manner for instructing school-aged students - though this does not necessarily dictate dress pants and cardigans!
I think that this topic is quite hot to say the least! I would like to expand on the point about schools being run as businesses. I think that too often in our materialistic world we define people on what they possess and how they present those possessions to others. For businesses selling a product, it is important for the philosophy of capitalism that they present their product in a manner which assumes them better than the competitor. However, also rooted in the philosophy of capitalism are greed and selfishness. I do not think that these are at all coincidental with the philosophies of a public government run school system where profit is not being made. How can we determine knowledge and the passing on of great qualities to our students based on what we wear? For parents who truly care about their children's education, what we as their teacher wear is irrelevant. They should be looking at things such as projects we assign, the amount of diversity we bring to their lives and the willingness to be open to their child's development. Is material really more important than the outcomes that these present? Also students learn and look up to who they feel comfortable with. I don't think that all of us will be teaching in upper class sectors of society and so we must evaluate the demographics of the parents to guide our attire. Overall I think we have great common sense, and though professionalism is important, it should not be tagged with things such as what you wear to define your level within the realm of professionals. We all know that belly shirts, inappropriate, but jeans, up for debate I guess!
It looks as though just about everyone has put their two cents in on this topic so I thought I would join the club. But before I start I want to ensure that everyone understands that I think teachers should be dressed in clean and appropriate clothing at all times.
The idea of dressing up for work has never sat well with me. I really dislike when people judge others on their appearances rather than by what is in their heads. My ability to be a good, fair and caring teacher has absolutely nothing to do with the clothes that I wear. Although, I think that we have to set a positive example for our students by dressing appropriately. I just don't feel that wearing business attire is the only way to do that. When I dress up for work or an interview I feel awful because I get treated differently by people. That makes me really angry. I should not be treated any differently because I can drive myself to fancy store and buy clothing. I should be treated well because I am a kind and intelligent individual. I guess I am not just against dressing up to teach. I am against dressing up to impress people and against treating people who are dressed nicely differently. This of course touches the idea that many people brought up about positively representing our schools, districts and communities. We're not in fashion, we should not be looking to impress them with fancy clothes, we should be looking to impress them with our ideas. People sometimes think that if you dress up it means you care about your job. I am very passionate about being a good teacher and being good at my job, but I'm not going to dress up to do that. I like Carmen's comment about teachers who dress up seem up tight and unapproachable. I totally agree. But, if you love dressing up and feel good doing it I think you should. I often work in an office at the Royal BC museum and I usually wear a hoodie, sweat pants and skate shoes (not something I would wear teaching because I look like a bit of punk). Yes, people who don't know me look at me funny. Yes, people who don't know me sometimes ask to see my id to make sure I should be in the building. These kinds of people and their behaviour gets me really angry. However, no one who works with me directly cares what I wear because they know I can do my job better than anyone else there (trust me my boss is anal if he cared about my clothes I would hear about it). I have had this discussion with many people. Usually they end the discussion with "fine don't dress up, you'll never get a job". Well they might be right, I guess we’ll see. Although, I doubt I want to work for a shallow individual who judges people on appearances anyway. I really hope that there is another person out there aside from me who does not judge people by their clothes and focuses on who they are and their ideas. So before you think "you can present good ideas be an amazing teacher and still dress up" Of course you can. But obviously your ability to do these things is not dictated by your ability to dress up. I feel that by dressing up I'm letting society win, and continue judging people on appearances. I'm just not finished the fight for getting to know people and judging them by what's in their head. So I will be in my regular clothes at the next school visit. I'm sorry if this post seems a little angry. It is not meant to be. This is just something that I feel very strongly about and it is also something that no one EVER agrees with me on, which is both frustrating and disheartening.
In response to Chelsea's original post, I personally feel that a level of professionalism should be brought forth in our teacher attire. I am not suggesting that it is necessary that we wear power suits and high heels because that maynot be practicle, but a pair of dress pants and a sweater or cardigan are appropriate and comfortable.
I feel that if we have put in this much effort to become "professionals" that I would like to proudly show this in the way I dress. As teachers, we are representing our school and I think that parents would appreciate a teacher that takes care of themselves. I fully support having casual days, where you can wear jeans, but I don't believe that should be every day of the week. I also personally find that a pair of dress pants are as easy to move around in and function in as a pair of jeans.
At the BCTF a young male student teacher walked into the conference wearing an old t-shirt, a pair of jeans and didn't appear ot have put a comb through his hair. I am not trying to judge him based on his appearence, but it seemed harder to take him serious. At a function like a BCTF conference, networking is one of the greatest opportunities we have, and I don't feel that he was representing himself to the best of his ability.
Personally, I feel that as young teachers we need to work hard to represent ourselves as professionals, and as silly as it may seem, people will judge a book by its cover.
I also agree with Carmen's point of teaching attire. What's wrong with wearing nice jeans and a t-shirt? When I asked my grandma, she says no jeans. I wonder why? Is it based on her own experiences, or ideas/steriotypes of what a teacher should look like. I don't think anything is wrong with jeans. As long as the teacher is covered appropriately,slightly professional looking and clean, that is all that matters. Why would I wear a suit that I couldn't move in just to look professional, or should I say authoritative to my students and parents. This discussion has brought forth a fine line, and who's right? hmmmm... all make excellent points. My friend has been teaching for 20 years and when I see her in her kindergarten class she is usually in track suits. Her students know she is athletic, and well in that environment, one has to be comfortable.
I brought up the topic of teaching attire the other day with my cousin, who teaches grade 8 at Monterey middle school. She is 27 and graduated from UVIC. While she was subbing she felt that dressing up was a necessity and frowned upon if you weren’t up to “standards”. When she first got her own class at Monterey she always dressed up, but then came to the decision that she didn’t feel comfortable teaching in the clothing she was wearing. She told me that she would rather wear clothes that represent her best, not to say she wants to wear flashy clothing or anything but clothes that are socially accepted that she wears on a daily basis. Her attire consisted of blue jeans and white long sleeve and a mountain co. Athletic vest.....It seemed very casual and comfortable.
I feel that we have the right to be in comfortable clothing while teaching. Personally, I find ties the most uncomfortable objects in the world. When I was in elementary the only male who wore a tie was the principal, the other male teachers were more the athletic type. My grade four teacher who was also my soccer coach wore black track pants every day, he must have had a dozen or so pairs and he also wore a white t or a sporty collared shirt.
I have no problems teaching in khakis or dress pants and collared shirts because those are comfortable clothes. But I refuse to teach in ties. If I had the choice I would teach in jean shorts and long sleeves because that is what I feel the most comfortable in.
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