Whether schools should or not oblige their students to wear uniforms, remains a debatable issue. In one respect, identical dresses can promote equality through smoothing the differences in income that are dramatically apparent if everybody wears casual. In addition, many see uniforms as a tool for exerting discipline since it is both physically and psychologically less comfortable to misbehave while wearing them. Other arguments for unified dress codes are their contribution to developing and maintaining a team spirit, a stronger association of students with the school, which is important in terms of reputation, and esthetic pleasure.
To the contrary, uniforms are possible to regard as a form of oppression, which can have a negative influence on psyche and is unacceptable in a liberal society. Besides, they do not necessarily fit everyone since children and adolescents grow actively, and their bodies may change substantially throughout the academic year, while the model as well as size of uniforms do not. Limited room for self-actualization that prevents students from further development is another considerable disadvantage. The question actually is how to prioritize correctly in the given case.
In the modern context, notably, that of growing social, ethnic, and cultural diversity of education, the problem becomes especially acute. Maintaining the balance between variety and equality is an outstandingly challenging task, and not all educational institutions are able to do that successfully. Uniforms are not as helpful in these terms as they may seem to be; as said above, they are not commonly suitable, which may aggravate inequality and eventually lead to conflicts.
Irritation and dissatisfaction, among the factors of which an official dress code presumably is, also worsen the emotional state of students and subsequently can cause misunderstandings. Meanwhile, in case negative emotions reach their peak, the possible results are scandals, sometimes with tragic outcomes up to fatal. Considering the current frequency of school shooting in various countries, it is reasonable to minimize the possible contributors to frustration and despair.
For me as a higher school student, the issue of uniform may seem to be not actual anymore, but I have quite unpleasant memories about wearing it. Specifically, I am among those who grew intensively throughout their childhood and adolescence, due to which my garments normally were too big at the beginning of the academic year and too small at the end. The resulting discomfort distracted me from studies because I could not concentrate properly and caused accumulating irritation.
The above is an essential point to take into consideration since I may be extrapolating my personal negative attitude to the entire topic unconsciously, which can lead to unintended bias. Another factor to threaten the objectivity is the scarcity of quality research on the possible correlation between school uniform and school safety, which most probably results from insufficient public attention to this issue. The existing studies therefore need a close exploration and a thorough analysis to compensate for the possible prejudice.
The question to guide the literature review is whether wearing or not wearing school uniforms correlates with the level of safety in educational institutions. The purpose subsequently lies in collecting and analyzing topic-specific data by means of reviewing and systematizing the existing literature, which allows for appropriate conclusions. An important assumption, in particular, is that uniforms have a direct influence on both physical and psychological well-being of students, which, in turn, can compromise school safety.
Annotated Review
Reidy, J. (2021). Reviewing school uniform through a public health lens: Evidence about the impact of school uniform on education and health. Public Health Reviews, 42, 1604212.
New Knowledge
According to the author, the reasons for wearing or not wearing school uniforms can have social, political, or cultural origin. Among those may be the freedom of expression, focus on gender equity and/or smoothing disparities in income, religious freedom, or other. One of the most frequent arguments for uniforms is their ability to settle students to discipline, hence improve academic performance. However, research on the educational system of Korea, where the focus on productivity and minimizing distractions is one of the closest, shows that the other side of such an approach is oppressing creativity.
Safety-related studies are few, but their outcomes also contribute to the ambiguity of the issue. In one respect, certain communities, including the United States and South Africa, use unified dress codes as an indicator to identify possible intruders in school grounds. Along with that, students may become victims of attacks outside school premises, the probability of which, according to the previous investigations, grows if they wear uniforms.
Insights
Notwithstanding the popular opinion, no direct correlation has been found between the way students dress and how well they study, which actually calls the relevance of official dress codes into question. Furthermore, those may have unwanted consequences in terms of safety, and the possibly increased probability of victimization is only one of such. In addition to it, the author highlights that uniforms limit physical activity, especially of girls, due to the lack of comfort while wearing them.
The possible results include higher obesity risks as well as poor reaction and consequently lower chances for a rescue in an emergency. Another point is that the design of garments not necessarily considers the climatic peculiarities of a particular region, which bears a threat for health. All of the negative factors affect concentration and attentiveness as well, hence outbalance the possible positive influence of uniforms on academic performance, even if it does exist.
Methods
The author searched the databases that involved both education and health research for any information on school uniforms published between the years 2000 and 2020. After de-duplication and screening for relevance, the collection included 92 articles that the investigator grouped in three categories. Those are stakeholder feedbacks, quantitative data analyses, and qualitative non-empirical studies that apply a political, ethnographic, or legal perspective to the topic. Systematizing and summarizing all of the outcomes allowed for the above conclusions.
Nathan, N., McCarthy, N., Hope, K., Sutherland, R., Lecathelinais, Ch., Hall, A., Lane, C., Trost, S., Sze, L. Yo., & Wolfenden, L. (2021). The impact of school uniforms on primary school student’s physical activity at school: outcomes of a cluster randomized controlled trial. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 18, article 17.
New Knowledge
The authors mention not less than 60 minutes of physical activity of appropriate intensity among the essential child health factors; specifically, this favors growth and helps to prevent chronic diseases. Although educational institutions, where students spend most of their time, consequently are the most important setting for promoting health, practical realization of this principle is dramatically limited. This predominantly happens because formal dress code prevents children and adolescents, especially female, from active movement.
In particular, British and Australian schoolgirls report not running and not playing sports during breaks due to the impracticality of their garments. One of the previous studies uses the amount of steps that students make throughout the day as a measurement and shows that females who wear sports clothes make substantially more. The given research illustrates the above assumptions with activity rates that are considerably higher among the students who are allowed to dress casually in comparison with the control group.
Insights
The article suggests that the design of traditional school garments deprives both girls and boys from sufficient movement during the school day, making them give preference to sedentary activities. Although the authors do not insist on cancelling uniforms as a phenomenon, the need for modifying them is apparent from the findings. Specifically, it would be reasonable to shift the focus from formality to comfort, so that nothing hinders the students’ movements. Otherwise, they spend excessive time sitting, which poses a serious threat to their health.
Among the possible consequences is slower development, not solely physical, but mental and psychological as well since proper activity of the body stimulates that of the brain. Adding to the probability of chronic diseases and obesity is another result of sedentary lifestyle and therefore another reason why official dress code is not quite appropriate in schools. The health issues that emerge from following it compromise the security of educational institutions by putting the well-being of the students at threat.
Methods
The research under review is a cluster randomized controlled study that was conducted in New South Wales, Australia, in 42 primary schools. The investigation lasted one school day, during which the members of the intervention group wore their sports uniforms, which favored physical activity (PA), while the control group wore their traditional garments. The investigators measured the PA of both with the help of accelerometers and built linear mixed models to assess the effectiveness of the intervention.
Jones, A. B., Richardson, M. J., Jensen, B. T., & Whiting, E. F. (2020). Perceptions of school uniforms in relation to socioeconomic statuses. Research in Middle Level Education (RMLE) Online, 43(6), 1-13.
New Knowledge
The authors highlight the increase in popularity of school uniform in the USA since the beginning of the century. As appearance, including clothing, is a sensitive issue for young teenagers, who regard it as a marker of social status, this tendency is worth especially close attention in secondary institutions. The vast majority of both teachers and parents believe unified dress codes to improve the school climate, hence safety by smoothing the differences in income of the students. Meanwhile, less than a half of the latter share this view. Those who do mention less teasing about clothes among the reasons; their opponents, however, complain about the lack of room for self-expression. It is also worth noting that students tend to socialize with those who are similar to them by a range of criteria, in the list of which social status occupies one of the leading positions. Uniforms, to the contrary, complicate its identification and consequently make students search for alternative grounds for their social decisions.
Insights
Families of different socioeconomic status normally have dissimilar values, due to which students who come from them find it easier to communicate with fellows than with people of other classes. This can lead to an exclusion of the less wealthy from the team and even bullying them. To minimize such conflicts, schools, especially those with many students of lower socioeconomic status, implement uniform policies. At first sight, this works, as students report less clothing-related teasing, which, in turn, means better security.
Along with the above, a situation where everybody dresses identical interferes with normal social decision-making. Being deprived of a chance to identify the status of the classmates by what they wear, students are bound to look for other markers. This can promote aggression and aggravate the disparities by other criteria, which makes the behavior of team members less predictable and, consequently, the climate less stable. How school uniforms influence school safety, therefore remains debatable.
Methods
The research was conducted in a particular charter school to allow for a maximal socioeconomic variety. All of 671 participants were to answer a set of questions on their demographics as well as their view of the effects that formal dress codes have. The questionnaires consisted of statements to grade in accordance with an agreement-disagreement scale. They formed four categories, notably, safety and behavior, school climate, academic performance, and family stress. The components of demographics, such as gender or ethnicity, and of socioeconomic status, such as the type of meals, served for designing regression models of perception variability.
Woo, J. M., Tam, C. L., Bonn, G. B., & Tagg, B. (2020). Student, teacher, and school counselor perceptions of national school uniforms in Malaysia. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, article 1871.
New Knowledge
Malaysia has a state school uniform policy that obliges all primary and secondary school attenders to wear unified garments. The government regards those as an important element of national identity, which serves to unite the diverse ethnic groups that the country houses into an integrated community. The vast majority of the teachers who took part in the investigation have generally similar opinions. Some of them, however, describe contradictions on whether Muslims and non-Muslims should opt for the same or different forms of clothing.
A certain share of students agree that the dress code favors a sense of similarity and equality, but these make less than a quarter of respondents. Even fewer, only 17%, report a unique team spirit derivable from dressing identically. For a bigger amount of participants, but still considerably less than even a half, wearing uniforms serves to indicate their status of students, which predominantly is peculiar to the attenders of more reputable schools. The other simply follow the regulations that some of them perceive as limiting their autonomy.
Insights
Notwithstanding the general acceptance of uniforms, the minority of Malaysian students believe them to be helpful in smoothing differences, in this case ethnic and cultural. In addition, some of the respondents describe the disagreements about which variant of school garments non-Muslim girls should wear. This aggravates the existing heterogeneity of educational institutions and consequently can destabilize the climate in them, making them less safe. In addition, a certain percentage of school attenders feel restrictions related to forcing them to dress in a particular way.
The resulting irritation can make students nervous and aggressive, which, in turn, increases the probability of conflicts within classes or teams, consequently making educational institutions less secure. Therefore, the researchers consider it reasonable to modify the existing uniforms, which solution would provide a possibility for self-expression as well as improve inclusivity. This may involve, for instance, blouses of various colors or pants as an alternative to skirts for females.
Methods
The article summarizes on 3 separate but interconnected surveys whose participants were students, teachers, and school counselors. The first category includes college and university attenders who completed their primary and then secondary education in Malaysia. The exclusion criteria of teachers were local citizenship and experience, which had to equal not less than 3 years. Finally, school counselors did not require any special selection. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews as well as questionnaires that contained both open-ended and close questions. The main analytical technique was inductive content analysis that allowed for identifying the key themes.
Friedrich, J., & Shanks, R. (2021). “The prison of the body”: School uniforms between discipline and governmentality. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education.
New Knowledge
Although the United Kingdom is thought to have started the tradition of school uniforms, their relevance is among the debatable issues of nowadays. Security is one of the arguments for unified dress codes, but mostly with a reference to the United States, where they serve to simplify differentiating between students and possible intruders. Other motivations are discipline, morality, and egalitarianism, each of which hypothetically can improve academic performance.
It is worth noting that discipline means hierarchy and obedience in the given context; in other words, controlling students’ garments helps to make them follow the rules. Those are rather strict and specify what male and female students may or may not wear; furthermore, not following the regulations means disciplinary sanctions. Schools that allow casual dress codes are relatively few. According to the popular opinion, such policies help to prepare students for employment, as staff of many companies have to dress formally. A peculiarity of uniforms, particularly in Scotland, is the dependence of its models on the age and gender of a student. Thus, girls have more choice of what to wear, for instance, trousers or skirts, but the claims in the length as well as looseness of their garments are stricter.
Insights
In one respect, approximately a half of Scottish schools report students’ support for uniform policies; one of them mentions preparation for employment as the main reason. In most cases, however, children’s participation is no more than voting for one of the pre-defined variants of clothing. This allows assuming that the approval of formal dress codes is taught rather than internal, as a lack of commitment for those simply is absent from the list of options. Subsequently, the opinion of a school not necessarily represents those of its attenders. Besides, notwithstanding the statement that uniforms homogenize school populations, the above differences in approaching males and females apparently have an opposite effect, specifically, strengthen gender stereotypes.
Methods
The research team, the members of which the authors were, collected information on dress code in 357 state secondary schools in Scotland from their websites. The findings underwent coding by two major criteria, notably, the reason or reasons for uniform policies and student participation in them. The next step was qualitative data analysis with the help of NVivo, which, is particular, was used for comparing the coding by different pairs of researches to improve the trustworthiness of the outcomes.
Moving Ahead
All of the above articles drive their audience to several main conclusions regarding the correlation between school uniforms and school safety. First, unified dress codes actually can contribute to security, in particular by simplifying the identification of strangers on school premises. To the contrary, they suppress individualization and consequently cause permanent disappointment, which can result in conflicts among students. Smoothing income-based disparities, which many mention as a big advantage of standardized garments, also has the other side. Normally, people of similar social status socialize with one another easier than with representatives of different strata. Unification, however, deprives students of such a possibility, making them search for alternative reference points to establish social hierarchy, which destabilizes school climate. Finally, uniforms may be impractical and limit physical activity, hence are potentially harmful for health.
However, the research has a range of limitations, which determines the need as well as sets the direction for future studies. Thus, Reidy (2021) regards school uniforms through the lens of public health, which notion is excessively wide and cannot allow for sufficient specificity. Simply stated, although the overall amount of references is relatively big, only a few of those cover particular issues, for instance, physical well-being or human rights. A more detailed investigation in each of the direction apparently would allow for more evidence for how uniform policies influence them.
Specificity, to the contrary, may mean a limited scope and a small selection, hence reduce the credibility of the final outcomes. The study by Nathan et al. (2021) is a bright example of this, as it took place in a particular community and lasted only one day. Meanwhile, the possible factors to influence physical activity of primary school attenders include climatic parameters, diseases, and lifestyle peculiarities that can depend on the region as well as season. Simply stated, more intensive movement is not necessarily the consequence of wearing casual, at least, without any other contributors. The results of a longer observation in various climate zones would involve less bias.
The main limitation of surveys is the excessive role of human factor in the findings. For instance, Jones et al. (2020) admit that parents’ views of uniform policies can influence those of their children partly or completely. Friedrich & Shanks (2021) see school administrations as an opinion-forming force. Another obstacle that the investigators mention is the lack of both ethical and reliable criteria for classifying the participants by their income. This, in turn, complicates generalization and consequently compromises representability, which point Woo et al. (2020) also highlight. In addition, the respondents are relatively few and predominantly live in urban areas, while village dwellers may have different values. All of this determines the need for a large-scale study with a use of quantitative analysis techniques.
To summarize, research on how school uniforms contribute or not to school safety is dramatically scarce at the current stage. The main consequence is inadequate representativeness that may manifest itself in both excessive generality and impossibility of proper generalization, depending on the scope of a particular study. Therefore, the issue doubtlessly needs further investigation that has to focus on particular aspects of safety separately and provide an adequate diversity of settings and participants. The latter, in addition, should be parents as well since this group of stakeholders of educational institutions remains beyond the research scope, although their role in forming schoolchildren’s opinions actually is one of the leading.
References
Friedrich, J., & Shanks, R. (2021). “The prison of the body”: School uniforms between discipline and governmentality. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. Web.
Jones, A. B., Richardson, M. J., Jensen, B. T., & Whiting, E. F. (2020). Perceptions of school uniforms in relation to socioeconomic statuses. Research in Middle Level Education (RMLE) Online, 43(6), 1-13. Web.
Nathan, N., McCarthy, N., Hope, K., Sutherland, R., Lecathelinais, Ch., Hall, A., Lane, C., Trost, S., Sze, L. Yo., & Wolfenden, L. (2021). The impact of school uniforms on primary school student’s physical activity at school: outcomes of a cluster randomized controlled trial. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 18, article 17. Web.
Reidy, J. (2021). Reviewing school uniform through a public health lens: Evidence about the impact of school uniform on education and health. Public Health Reviews, 42, article 1604212. Web.
Woo, J. M., Tam, C. L., Bonn, G. B., & Tagg, B. (2020). Student, teacher, and school counselor perceptions of national school uniforms in Malaysia. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, article 1871. Web.