Teachers' dress code (or lack of one)

[ProudNeathGirl]

DD (17) was sent home from sixth form earlier this week to change, because the coloured jeans she was wearing didn't comply with the dress code for sixth form students, which is "business dress"..
Fair enough - but the teacher who sent her home was wearing a beach type dress and denim jacket. Said teacher was today wearing leggings (also against rules for students).
Any kind of piercings apart from plain studs in the ear are also not allowed, but there is a student support manager lower down the school with five piercings in his face.

I don't think this is fair. AIBU?

[mummytime]

My DCs secondary has a strict and complied with dress code for teachers, the sixth formers are allowed far more freedom in their dress.
Female teachers can wear trousers, as I always did when I was teaching.

I actually object to the amount of blossom on show at DCs primary school, but haven't complained to the school about it. I think it is inappropriate, especially when you are bending over pupils work etc.

DSs new school requires business dress of all pupils and staff, and is 50% specialising in a practical subject.

[JRY44]

Very few teachers I know dress unprofessionally. I have worked in several schools and only a couple of scruffy teachers. Most have their own personal uniform - mine is black trousers and a variety of shirts and blouses with scarves.

To the OP your daughter needs to follow rules. Also is the student support person a teacher employed by the school or from an outside agency?

[Floggingmolly]

Why should teachers wear school uniform? When your child is out in the big wide world; they can wear what they choose too.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

Yabu.

She's a teacher not a pupil.

[echt]

Zombie thread.

[ThirdTimesABrokenFanjo]

ridiculous to expect students who arent in a business setting to observe that dress code when teachers at work arent

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

I am a teacher, I wouldn't wear a beach-type dress and denim jacket to school. I wouldn't wear leggings either (don't wear them generally, as I am following the "if you are old enough to have worn them first time round" rule).

I also take out most of my earrings for school, and won't be dyeing my hair pink until the school holidays.

I usually wear trousers shirt and a jacket, put a labcoat over the top if I'm likely to get covered in gunk.

I definitely have "school" clothes and home clothes, I think you do need to make a bit of an effort to look vaguely professional.

[Roshbegosh]

You have to put up and shut up, or change schools. She is a pupil, get over it.

[ChippingInWiredOnCoffee]

ProudNeathGirl are you still around? What is DD up to now & did the school change their staff dress code??

[BoneyBackJefferson]

unless the uniform cam in during the last year YABU

If you and your DD are so against uniform why didn't she go to a college instead of a 6th form?

To those advocating uniforms for teachers are you prepared to pay for it?

[Heartbrokenmum73]

I can top every last story of inappropriate dress on here. I worked at an FE college for awhile. I was an IT Tutor and we were told in our department we had to dress professionally. I didn't have an issue with that.

The Art department, however, had no such rules and one particular Tutor used to regularly turn up at this time of the year in tiny denim cut-off shorts, obviously hand-made by just cutting the legs off jeans. They would be teamed with either a grubby t-shirt or a waistcoat, hanging open, with NOTHING underneath it. It was a man. He had longish shaggy hair and fancied himself as the totty of the college. It was both cringeworthy and highly inappropriate.

[Gonnabmummy]

I don't think 17/18 years olds should be compared to as children in this sense. I definitely didn't think of myself as a child 2 years ago in 6th form and to us the best bit of it was not wearing uniform. Everyone keeps referring to primary sort of age OP says 6th form. You are expected to act like adults therefore the adults should too.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

gonna but part of being an adult is doing things because you are told to by a superior at work,not because you want to or because you think it is "fair".

The rules of this particular 6th form were known before the op's daughter chose to go there. It's not as though it's a massive surprise.

[sameoldIggi]

I think "blossom on show" sounds rather nice, maybe the school was in Chelsea?

[PriyaKoothrappali]

You had to have shirts tucked in at my school whichof course no ne wanted to do, so the teachers always set an example and adhered to the school rules. It's simple I think. If you set rules, follow them yourself. So, YANBU.

[EvilTwins]

"If you set rules, follow them yourself" seriously??? In a school?

Better not go in the staffroom tomorrow then - kids aren't allowed in.

[formicadinosaur]

I don't think staff have a dress code usually. I can understand that there is one for students. Makes sense.

[ukatlast]

Quote Merylstrop: 'Well coloured jeans would be totally acceptable in the business I work in

Business dress...what a weird concept'

Exactly all school uniform is a weird outdated concept alongside the dropping of formality in the 'real world'. In the private sector 5 year olds in ties and blazers when their parents wear jeans in the real world.

My school in 1970s was sensible enough to not pick fights over dress for sixth formers. Education is not compulsory beyond a certain age therefore -health and safety/indecency excepted - it should be ok to wear whatever you please.
The only good thing about uniform is not having to think what to wear each day and levelling down effect but by 6th form these are irrelevant and it is important for people to be able to express their individuality to some extent just like they will at University.

[sameoldIggi]

Ok Priya, most teachers have a rule to put hands up before answering a question. So, you think the teacher should put their hand up too?

[marriedinwhiteagain]

I agree with the OP. I think teachers should have a professional dress code and should conform to it. They did at the dc's primary (and parents complained about spaghetti tops and flip flops) they do at the dc's independent day schools (and ds has looked gorgeous for the last couple of years in his smart suits and shirts) and they did at the london comp from which we removed dd.

Teachers are there to set standards and if they have none it is unreasonable to enforce rules for others just as I would not go to work in jeans and a tee shirt and expect my front line staff to be professionally dressed. And that doesnkt mean there is no romm for some sensible originality or panache.

Ultimately if teachers want parents to treat them with the respect they deserve as professionals they have to behave like professionals and set the standards for the children and teenagers for whom they are responsible and have to ensure comply With the rules.

[EvilTwins]

The thing is, most adults know what is appropriate. If you asked a group of professional adults to come in "extra smart" clothes, you can pretty much guarantee you'd get suits, smart, polished shoes, etc etc. Ask a group of teenagers to do the same...

(Thinking about annual "dress to impress" day when Yr 11s return after exams for their final assembly/speeches/ awards. Most interpret it as "dress to impress a member of the opposite sex in a nightclub" despite being told it's about looking like smartly dressed young adults)

[marriedinwhiteagain]

I wonder if there's a correlation between schools with staff dress codes and schools being graded as outstanding. We only looked at outstanding schools - all the staff we saw were professionally dressed - not necessarily very formally dressed in suits but they were presentable and relatively conservatively dressed.