How Should Teachers Dress?
Tuesday January 27, 2009
I would never wear my weekend clothes to the classroom. And my "school clothes" rarely see the light of day in my personal life.
Teachers don't have a formal uniform, but our appearance really sends a message to our students, their parents, our colleagues, and the community. Follow these Tips For Proper Teacher Attire and you should be on the right track.
What factors do you take into consideration when getting dressed for work in the morning?
Have you ever been appalled by the fashion choices of your fellow teachers?
Teacher’s attire plays a BIG role in how successful you are in teaching your children. Think about it, it you wear the clothes that you wear at home to lounge around in, how productive are you. I am not saying that you must wear a suit everyday but educators should treat their job just like if they were going to an office everyday. You can still be casual and look nice without the skirts & heels (women)
I agree that we should look nice, but at the same time I am just as productive, if not more so, in my jeans and spiritwear than in my “Church clothes.”
Hello. i wonder what does the attire of the teacher have to do with the way students learn?
I disagree with the last point and think that it is extremely important for a teacher to dress professionally. While you may not see a direct result in how much each students learns because of the teacher’s attire, it has an effect on how the teacher acts in front of the class and the amount of respect they are given by the class. When a child sees an adult in sweats and sneakers they will not necessarily have the same level of respect as they would for someone dressed more professionally.
I disagree with the comment number 4. As a student myself, i find that what teachers wear rarely affects my ability to learn from them and respect them. It si the teacher’s attitude towards their students, and their willingness to put their energy and time into their students in order to see them succeed that makes them a good teacher who is worthy of respect. I do think that it is important to maintain a certain level of dress, as it is important to be clean and generally well presented, but a teacher who dresses with personality and flair is much more interesting than a teacher who wears proffesional attire.
I’m not a teacher, but I feel I must leave a comment. The way a teacher looks definitely does make a diffeence in the classroom. By dressing professionally, you are telling your students (and their parents) that you really care about this job and you are putting time and energy into the child’s education. Can you teach better?…no, but students will understand you really care about education. I am married to a teacher and one of my daughters is a teacher, and they care enough about the image they present to dress nicely every day. Teachers need to be professional and look professional! I am a nurse. How would you feel if you were in the hospital and I came in to take care of your sick family member dressed in sweats and flip-flops?
I think that appropriate dress for teachers is rather subjective to begin with. I don’t see teachers dressed in a suit unless they are presenting to adults, nor do I see any dressed in sweats. I would not begin to presume that those who dress in suits care more for their students educational well-being than those who might wear sweats. I do however realize that there are certain individuals who do pass judgement on others based on the way they dress. As a middle school teacher, I see the rapid shift in importance from dressing for comfort to dressing to impress others. It is sad really that so much of that carries over into adulthood. Bottom line: If I am clean, comfortable, and have left a few things to the imagination (you know what I mean) then I am appropriately dressed to…stand a majority of the day, remain energetic from morning to night, help read, write, and solve a multitude of technology issues as well as construct bulletin boards, solve “drama” issues, and be a surrogate mother to those children for whose education I care very deeply about. If you can do all that in a pair of flip flops you are an excellent teacher!
Question for anyone? Do you think it is appropriate for teachers to wear:
Jeans
shorts
flip-flops
I have no problem with professionalism or professional dress. I do have problems with the issue of some districts going bonkers over a bit of us young teachers going it casual.
I wear my black Reef flip-flops with my dockers most of the time with polo shirts and my students respect me! It shows them I am human too… I think dressing up too much… is making you less approciable.
Anna, yes! An emphatic yes!!! If you teach gym sure flip flops and shorts…
if you teach regular ed, polo, jeans and flip flops indeed… you must be comfy….Reefs are all I wear