[senco-forum] Not SEN

We are having a debate at present about dress code. Some

Hi Judith
  I think that uniform is all common sense.  We have a 'no hats indoors' rule for boys but one boy always wears a baseball cap because he has alapecia.  We have a 'tailored trousers' rule but don't insist if a pupil has difficulty such as a wheelchair user a while ago.

  I can just about remember staff in gowns and hoods, though in my case just on prizegiving day.  Not sure we had any staff without degrees in my grammar school.
  As for trousers - my mother taught at the school I went to.  She had a trouser suit especially made by a tailor so she could wear it to school.  And, in the convent school where I did my first teaching practice, one teacher got her doctor to give her a medical certificate so that she could wear trousers.
  The rule in my school now is that we staff are smart.  Most men wear ties as a matter of course but not suits.  Some wear surf type flip-flops all year round!  Most of us wear shoes.  I like to wear a tailored jacket because it makes me feel good - I don't have to.
  I have had to talk to one or two of my younger TAs about what they wear - you can't lean over a 15 year old youth if they can peer down your top!
  Boys can wear tailored shorts or cut offs or trousers.  Girls can wear skirts, trousors, tailored shorts or cut offs.  We haven't had a boy in a skirt yet, except on official non-uniform days.  Then they all look the same.
  Amanda
  Secondary SENCO
  Cornwall
  Very relieved because hunband's Ofsted went well and they are a 'good' school officially.

Judith Stansfield <stass at onyxnet.co.uk> wrote:
  When I first started teaching at a grammar school back in the 60s,
graduate teachers wore academic gowns (which were useful for keeping all
that chalkdust off your clothes) but this supported a certain amount of
discriminatory snobbishness against practical subject teachers who were
not usually graduates then. It was the sixties when times and habits
were changing, so a lot of bad feeling was generated amongst the younger
staff, when the deputy headmaster, complete with tatty sports jacket and
leather patches covered by a literally raggy gown, took the nqt art
teacher to task for wearing a smart sweater over his shirt and tie and
suggested he purchased a jacket out of his very meagre non-graduate pay!
The young teacher was a much better dressed role model, but he did
'conform' after a few months - hopefully this could not happen today?
The female teachers were not allowed to wear trousers and I was taken on
one side by the deputy headmistress and told that thick coloured tights
were inappropriate - I had moved on before miniskirts came in ......
Cheers
Judith

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Judith Stansfield
Farm Cottage, 24 East Road, Melsonby,Richmond DL10 5NF
stass at onyxnet.co.uk 
01325 718139 07990572365
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of
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Sent: 16 November 2006 10:16
To: Janrolnick at aol.com; senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk
Subject: Re: [senco-forum] Not SEN - dress code

From: Janrolnick at aol.com
> We are having a debate at present about dress code. Some
> of us feel male teachers should wear ties, female
> teachers smart trousers skirts etc no jeans, combats,
> trainers. What happens in other schools - and what happens
> if people do not adhere to it?

Dress codes tend to be sexist. They often insist that men
wear uncomfortable ties in extremely hot weather (like in
July) whilst women are allowed to wear much more practical
looser clothing (still smart though). As this is sexism
against men and not against women it is usually overlooked.

Does the school make exceptions for PE teachers? If so
shouldn't there be exceptions for dance teachers? What about
drama teachers, DT teachers etc.

It's a minefield. If there is a code then it should just
state smart dress appropriate to the job. It should not be
specific. SHould someone come in scruffy then the line
manager could legitamately have a 'quiet word'.

--
Mark Norwood
www.avssc.org
"The e-mail of the species is more deadly than the mail"
Stephen Fry

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Amanda
Secondary SENCO
Cornwall