School Uniform in the 21st Century

A study in 2018 showed that only one in 10 employees now wear a suit to work. It found that seven out of 10 dress casually as it makes them more comfortable. And I would imagine that post pandemic those figures are surely higher - so why do we persist in dressing our children in blazers and ties for school?

Recently, a local school had 100 of their Year 11 girls taken to the school hall, had their skirt length measured and advised to either change their skirt or to go home. Now, whilst I'm fully supportive of a school having a dress code policy and trying to enforce it - this seems all round to be a difficult scenario to manage. Parents battle with their teenage daughters to pull their skirt down, teachers would surely prefer to be in the classroom teaching not prowling the corridors with a ruler, and of course how does it make the pupil feel?

I'm in favour of the primary school in Leamington Spa that took the bold decision to replace their traditional uniform with a tracksuit. Introduced to inspire a more "active" curriculum - the school had to weather some initial resistance from parents, but four years on the uniform - a very fetching combo in dark navy and royal blue - is still in place and it looks like others schools have adopted the strategy.

What I personally like is that it first removes the "sexing" of children. It's the same uniform for boys and girls and absolutely no way to customise or shorten to display inches of thigh. Secondly it promotes a healthy approach to life - you're far more likely to be running for the bus then you would do in a blazer and heels. Thirdly, there are studies out there that show a casual uniform can lead to a 40% improvement in productivity. And finally cost - overall it would work out cheaper for parents and easier for a school to manage.

A lot of what takes place in school harks back to bygone times. The six week summer holiday is a relic from the days when children would help with the harvest. We persist in all children having a school day of around 8.30am - 3.00pm despite plenty of evidence showing that teenagers are more effective later in the day. And a uniform policy designed to mould children to fit into a world of work which no longer really exists.

What do you think?