Merseyside pupils 'humiliated' by school skirt-length inspections

[SerendipityJane]

Probably too many questions to write in this space, but (a) would it have been acceptable if if was only female teachers that were doing the inspecting. and (b) what would the definition of female be in this case.

I guess my main question of when the fuck did it become 1923 is quite low in the list

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-64743377

Female pupils say they have been left "humiliated" over enforcement of a uniform policy at a Merseyside school.

Girls have been made to enter Rainford High School in St Helens separately to boys and have had their skirt length inspected by male teachers, they claim.

Non of this Woke Crap snow flake nonsense crap on a issue like this

You appear to have taken a wrong turn, this isn't the Daily Mail. You want the third door on the right.

If a pupil is repeated inappropriately dressed then a quiet word (or two, or three, and with the parents) is what is required.

Not the case here - this is about regulation skirts not fitting exactly to the knee (practically impossible given they come in standard lengths and taller people have longer lengths) Nor are girls at the school in question allowed to wear trousers.

Senior Leadership should be expecting heavy criticism for both policy and its implementation.

What a way to welcome young people back to school.

yes I would avoid calling them up. If their skirt is already revealing their genitalia I wouldn’t call them to the front where they would have to reach higher and it show more. I don’t want the rest of the class to feel uncomfortable about being forced to see someone’s pants, as much as I don’t want to have to deal with a child crying because the rest of the class is laughing at them.
We have had many girls stop coming to school after sending inappropriate pictures to other students and being embarrassed, if the entire class laughed at them do you think that would be a good learning environment for them or would their be a risk that they would avoid school?

What I never understood about my school (and I'm assuming many many others were the same) is why an inch above the knee when you're just walking to school and sitting at desk is indecent and distracting to the men and boys, but when it came to PE when you'd be jumping, cartwheeling and climbing up ropes, the girls uniform was a tight white t shirt tucked into a skirt much much shorter than the uniform one and we had to wear gym knickers underneath that didn't even cover your arse cheeks.

Girls would be given detention for showing too much leg if their skirt was an inch above the knee but also given detention for not showing enough thigh, arse and tit if we tried to wear cycling shorts instead of skimpy gymn knickers under the tiny pe skirts or baggy loose T-shirts.

I teach secondary. I agree this school went about it the wrong way, but I totally disagree that enforcing skirt lengths is about policing girls' bodies. I tell more boys off for not having their shirts tucked in than girls for rolling their skirts up (girls also need to have their shirts tucked in but they always seem to anyway). Our HT has specifically said that male teachers are not to comment on skirt lengths for the avoidance of any doubt (shocked that so many people here think it's pervy though, we're professionals🤔). A corollary of this is that female staff do have to step in to enforce this rule. It's no big deal. It should be done diplomatically though, which I always try to do.

Gaah! Forgot my main point: it's not policing girls' bodies, it's enforcing uniform.

Our school has identical uniform rules for boys and girls. We do get the odd boy wearing a skirt. I'd object strongly to any school that has different rules for boys and girls.

This might be a bit rambling and convoluted but... I'm a foreigner here and I think the state of UK education is something to behold. (For context, I'm from a country with one of the best education systems in the world – and that's because we don't really have private schools, and we also pay teachers extremely well!)

I honestly thought the conversation around safeguarding etc was advanced in the UK, so I'm surprised so many mothers are OK with girls being made to line up for grown men to look at their skirts.

I honestly think it's because of your private school system. All the best resources go to students who simply buy them (rather than students who necessarily deserve them).

So in most of the system, teachers are so overstretched and hopeless that they treat children like cattle, in demeaning ways. Parents accept it too. This general industry attitude bleeds even into good schools in the UK.