I was recently asked about the issue that caused me most difficulty as a headteacher.
There were a few, but school uniform was certainly in the top five. While it could be difficult to engage parents in discussion on learning and the curriculum, school uniform was guaranteed to generate heat but very little light.
I suspect that my successors are "enjoying" similar experiences. A cursory Internet trawl of "school uniform debate" brings forth around 1.7 million results. There are thousands of uniform-related posts on Mumsnet. Recently a Bradford headteacher provoked a media storm by sending home more than 150 pupils for infringements of the school's dress code.
I was a consistent supporter of school uniform. Before anyone asks, no I can't offer a scrap of empirical evidence to support my position. It was just an instinct arising from experience in schools that had or hadn't gone down the uniform road. A couple of those schools ended up with the worst of all worlds, a uniform policy that wasn't enforced. Parents who encouraged their children to wear uniform were out on a limb, exposed to the daily protest that begins: "Nobody else ... "
If there's little, if any, evidence to suggest that school uniform improves learning or performance, why bother? The arguments on both sides have been well rehearsed. If our schools wish to develop independent and creative young people, why spend time and energy coercing them into the straitjacket and conformity of uniform?
However, I suspect that a majority of parents, and probably children too, support the wearing of school uniform. In my book at least, that is a good enough reason to have it. As always, those opposed to something make most noise, but their volubility is usually disproportionate to their number. I regularly came across individual parents fiercely defensive of their children's legal and human rights to wear whatever they wanted to school. If initial persuasion didn't work, I respected their decision and let them get on with it. Perversely, some then decided uniform wasn't such a bad idea.
I'm willing to keep an open mind on whether there is any connection between school uniform and educational achievement. However, I remain convinced of the correlation between support for school uniform amongst pupils and parents and positive perceptions of the value of education.
That conviction was strengthened during a recent visit to southern Africa. In virtually every village, groups of children were seen going to and from school, often walking many miles to do so. It was particularly touching that virtually all wore school uniforms usually including carefully laundered white shirts. Home for many were the "informal settlements" lacking even the most basic services. Yet their parents, despite grinding poverty and hardship, daily demonstrate their belief that education is worth the effort.
The children's appearance implied an unshakeable conviction in the importance and value of education. It is not something to be taken for granted or seen as an encumbrance; unfortunately, not a mindset uniformly found in Scotland.
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