To complain about what teachers wear?

[Bunchofdaffodils]

More is she being unreasonable? Visiting a friend the other day with a daughter in year 5 I think. Just moved to a new school ( New to area).
My friend suddenly went on a rant about how it wasn’t on what the teachers were wearing and should she say something about it being inappropriate? Apparently it’s things like short skirts(other parents have commented about seeing Miss Xs knickers!), high heels and being over the top, like a fashion show.
She thinks it’s not a good example to set the children? Was she being unreasonable?

As they say the staff are there to do a job, not have a fashion show.

Well that's true of anyone unless you're literally a model. But why should work uniforms be the norm when there's no need for them?

Why shouldn't the employee in question get to decide what clothes make them happy abs comfortable (within sensible limits)?

OMG, when I think about what we wore as teachers in the mid/late 60s! We were all in miniskirts so short you could practically see our knickers. Thank goodness tights had been invented! And in those days female teachers were not allowed to wear trousers - it was considered unprofessional.

Unreasonable, definitely. Teachers should be judged on how well they teach, how they treat the kids in their care, etc. Not their appearance.

My kids have left school now but I tried to speak up about teacher’s attire numerous times.

I got so sick of them telling my daughter what colour socks to wear and and that her trousers had to cover her ankles, and my son wasn’t allowed to remove his jumper even in summer, while teachers and support staff were walking around in high heels, leggings, a shirt dress, short skirts, skin tight trousers showing the full outline of Male anatomy, low cut tops, bare shoulder stroppy tops, sheer see through shirts and lacy tops showing bright cerise bra straps.

Lovely!

I'm surprised at the number of teachers who say it doesn't matter.
It's one thing to look unprofessional and display double standards but another to walk around a primary school labelled a porn star or in a boob tube.

If it doesn't matter than clearly all this stuff they enforce on the kids is wrong too, hey why not accessorise with a few weapons, multiple piercings or some expensive bling!

Dressing appropriately in formal, neutral clothes with sensible footwear used to be the norm for teachers though in my latter years teaching the younger teachers wore clothes more suitable for an Ibiza party. They often wore flip flip type shoes too.

Not only were the clothes impractical for what is quite a physical job but they distracted the pupils and set a poor example to their charges who were meant to be confirming to a uniform code.

I completely take the point that one’s teaching ability is not related to how one dresses but there are other issues in a teacher’s attire to do with responsibility and focus on academia. Perhaps it is also an issue to do with social class where dress codes signify the status of the teacher and of the importance of education, self control and discipline. Properly dressed staff tell the pupils’ parents that their child will have a good shot at attaining the highest qualifications of which they are capable and of being employable. After all, no professional employer wants a tattooed, scruffy, badly dressed employee dealing with clients and pupils need to learn this while they are young.

If a parent or parents think that how the staff dress is unimportant then the other pupils’ parents will make a judgement about the school and send their children elsewhere. I would not have sent my children to a school where there was no strict uniform code or wher the staff dressed less than smartly.

Sorry, there was an redundant ‘of’ in the post above.

deendon
Teachers should look professional.
What is professional in different key stages will vary. My friend in early years doesn't wear business casual like I do. I can't see her managing to chase 3 year olds in pencil skirt, heels and a blazer. I wouldn't wear a more casual tunic top and leggings buy it's perfect for her.
Most people have said underwear etc should be covered and that shoes should match the job.

Where people are saying it doesn't matter is when (like in the OP I think) someone has decided that the teacher's personal style is too much and are making judgements about their fashion sense, treating school as a fashion show etc. Thats personal taste and has nothing to do with whether they are dressed appropriately.

Inform your friend that she has a cheap babysitter from 9-3 approx so just can it and get new friends

As a teacher you set professional standards and I think people expect those standards to be slightly old fashioned middle class values. I would expect a teacher to be dressed in clothing similar to that of a doctor, nurse, police officer or judge, appropriate to the age they teach.

I don't think scrubs, a stab vest or powdered wig is a good look in a regular classroom.

Not RTFT but are they any shorter than what the pupils are allowed to wear? If not, how can you possibly have an issue with it? This is especially true for secondary school

I do find it funny that primary school or KS3 children are expected to wear strict uniform to “prepare them for the world of work” then when they’re 16-18 - so actually near the world of work, and in many cases, actually working, they can go to college and rock up in pretty much anything they want! I teach in a sixth form college with zero dress code, and get kids in all sorts of things, including magnificently coloured hair. I love it! Teachers wear jeans, trainers, anything at all. And yet, there’s next to no discipline problems and we get good results. Crazy. I was also amused in my last job where uniform was very strict, that when we had assemblies with people from businesses (in some cases huge, well-known companies) in to talk to students, they were invariably in smart casual, such as black jeans and cold shoulder tops. A room full of children in mini-suits, ostensibly to prepare them for a world where nearly nobody wears an actual suit to work. So weird.

Are you sure that you're just not jealous because they look good in something younger and sexier then you would? Are you sure you're not complaining because you're not as attractive as the teacher? Are you sure you're not reacting in the classic

Female manner that if you can't look as good as another woman then you tear her down? Just asking...

Bashun
Oh please! Spare us the 'if you have an opinion or disagree with another a woman then you're clearly jealous' lines.

There's no need to be dressed to emphasise your sex appeal in most jobs, especially teaching.

I think that children should learn that there is a difference between being a child and being an adult.

In my work place (Pharma so as 'corporate' as you get) the more senior you are the smarter you are expected to dress. The cleaners and other support staff wear uniform supplied by the company, the junior scientists wear jeans and t-shirts, senior scientists and middle management are customer facing and are dressed in smart casual, senior management are in suits. So if the kids have to wear suits then surely the teachers should show their higher status by dressing equally smartly?

Personally I think primary kids should be able to wear what they want and secondary kids should have the kind of dress code that exists in tech companies, e.g. no offensive slogans, and no underwear on show. We have safety rules about shoes so no open toes and heels under 3" which again seems fairly sensible if you're doing anything practical.

Bashun
Oh please. Weird post. I would guess that the OP is very 'sure' that she is not jealous.

The primary school that I work in and the primary school that my DH works in both have strict dress codes, we must wear smart business like dress, suits for the men and shirts and trousers for the women, no skirts above the knee. My DH isn't even allowed to wear a jumper over his shirt in his school.

The parents used to talk about the primary school teacher who used to wear a very short gather skirt and on a windy day it was all a bit Marilyn Monroe, she used to flirt with the Dads while in meetings and it was all a bit unseemly. Ironically she was very strict on the kid’s uniform.

I cannot believe how petty some of the rules regarding dress codes are.

For what it’s worth the school I work in has a) no uniform b) casually dressed staff - though some do dress up a little more than others c) outstanding exam results.

@Namebot the school that I work in has rubbish exam results and is in a very deprived area, I don't know why the headteacher is so strict on what we wear to work its not like the colour of my top has any influence on the children's learning!

Isn’t it interesting that the vast majority of these posts are talking about (criticising) what women wear as teachers. Not what men wear.

To be fair, in nearly every school (secondary, at least) the dress code is much stricter for men than women. I'm sure people would complain about men who came in wearing hotpants or string vests, but in the vast majority of cases men have to wear a shirt and tie minimum, while women can get away with more or less anything that's not literally underwear.

QuantumGroan
I don't think the actual dress codes are stricter for men as such (at least not where I've worked as most are fairly up front about wanting business casual as a minimum. For men it's trousers, shirt and tie and it's up to them if they want a jumper or a suit. Women it's usually smart skirt/trousers, top, jumper or cardigan. Like men suit jacket is optional in most places). The difference Is, in my experience anyway, that some women push their luck and seem to do the very thing that students do: try to push the dress code to the letter vs the spirit. So they are if they can just wear smarter jeans, their cleavage is out but the dress code doesn't explicitly say etc It's like an adolescent approach rather than a professional one.
I know of some schools who insist on business formal wear with mandatory jackets for staff. Some are odd chains who seem to love policing staff and students to unreasonable levels, but others I'm sure are because some staff have looked ridiculous.

@LotsToThinkOf thank you. Your post about the inappropriate clothes was hilarious. I imagined you as a Victorian headmistress with a cat bum mouth, sitting rod straight at your clean heavy wooden desk, typing your post while looking very primly upset. Do you also wear glasses? That would finish off the stereotype nicely.