In our school we certainly can't wear whatever we like. There are certain rules.

As for the men, I think I have only ever seen them in shirts and ties when it is parents evening.

 I wore less "dressy" clothes  in reception because most days saw me covered in paint, mud or something worse but overall staff dress "professionally" and small children are just as happy to wipe their nose on your best designer suit as on your Asda jeans.

As a student teacher i always go into school dressed smartly as i believe it makes a better impression.  Children look up to their teacher and so i feel we have a responsibility to show them how to dress appropriately.  We expect children to look smart, so we should set the example no matter what sex.

The head and deputy tend to wear suits (and don't appear to intimidate any age of child) but two of the other three could be off to the garden centre as much as to work. The third generally wears trousers and a shirt, but not always a tie.

The women vary from the 'off to the garden centre' level of smartness to full blown 'off to court' suits.

We do have a dress code that forbids things like jeans, leggings, low cut tops, etc. Which is far more restrictive for women than for men really.

I suppose the only sexist thing about dress at our school is that both genders can wear trousers, but men would probably have some explaining to do if they wore a skirt! :)

 I did a research project on perceptions of dress in a working environment and what emerged was that although people have clear ideas about what impression is given by what clothing, they tend to have different ideas about what impression is given by what clothing.

 When I started teaching, most schools wouldn't allow women teachers to wear trousers, which seemed really stupid in light of the fact that we spent a considerable amount of our time standing on chairs (displays), sitting on the floor and crawling under cupboards to retrieve missing items etc.  

I have no problem with dress codes, but it seems reasonable to expect some sort of rationale to  it, preferably one agreed to by the staff.  It's not really very helpful to expect 'smart' or 'professional' if staff have different ideas as to what constitutes smart or professional and conflicting ideas about what the children think of it.

Since there seems to be little evidence about the effects of school uniform on behaviour, perhaps staff could wear school uniform too.

There will usually be a lot of women that react badly to the OP.

'We can't wear what we like'

'Our dress code is just as strict as men's'

etc.

 The fact is although women can't wear anything they like they have a much wider range to choose from. Our school isn't too bad compared to some - we don't have to wear a tie and we can wear PE kit some days. It still isn't great though. I hate wearing shirt and trousers and wish I had a wider choice (or women had a smaller one ) but it won't happen. We aren't allowed to wear jeans on a mufti day which I think is a bit extreme.

Women can wear trousers (of varying styles), skirts (of varying styles), a huge range in the type of tops they wear.  

I would be happy with a school uniform. An easy polo shirt would feel a lot better than a buttoned shirt to me.

I wear a shirt adn smart trouser usually with some form of jumper in the winter as my school can be *** cold. I have not worn a tie for 2 years now. All of the other men at my school do. I work in a middle school and staff in general tend to look smarter than our frist school counter parts. (The men in our first schools always look very casual) After the initail shock and comments, no one has mentioned it again. I did have a bit of argument with one female menber of stass :she argued that men must wear ties I disagreed! Upon asking how she would feel if she was made to wear a cravat (sp?) every day my argument was won!

natalie28

As a student teacher i always go into school dressed smartly as i believe it makes a better impression.  Children look up to their teacher and so i feel we have a responsibility to show them how to dress appropriately.  We expect children to look smart, so we should set the example no matter what sex.

Agreed. How is wearing a suit to teach Primary education (or secondary for that matter) appropriate? I'm not trying to create an image to win a court case here. I want to teach. We can look smart without having to dress the way many do now.

Milgod

 The fact is although women can't wear anything they like they have a much wider range to choose from.

I think that is exactly the point many of our female teachers wear t-shirt tops, which I know I woudln't get away with. A female head of Key Stage (non teaching, not that, that should make a difference) wears polo tshirt regularly.

pilesofstones

I think the general observation is that women can have a large range of appropriate clothes to wear in relation to that of men.

Absolutely, although this is true outside of work, too.

Male teachers in my primary only really wear shirts on special occasions or parent consultations. They usually wear polo shirts and chino type trousers.

I agree with you. I'm a male primary school teacher. However, I've been teaching at the same school for over 15 years and until this year was the only male teacher. My head (male) always wears a suit and shirt and tie, but for me I don't think it's practical when you're working with kids, especially year one. He doesn't teach any classes. Some female teachers at our school wear jeans and LSA's/TA's often wear jeans. I think that this can be a little scruffy, but I tend to be smart casual, but most importantly practical. Whilst we have no dress code as such, it was suggested by our head a few years back that we should have a dress code, but someone said that if he insisted on us wearing certain items he would have to give us a clothing allowance and the subject has never been bought up again. Let's face it, you can be an excellent teacher and wear what you like - being in a shirt and tie doesn't make you a good teacher. I've never had discipline problems and I work in a tough innner London school. Stick to your guns - if it isn't in your contract they can't force you...

In our school we don't have any rules but staff generally choose to dress reasonably. I always wear a tie - because I feel uncomfortable without one even when not at work. One or two male members of staff don't, or may not occasionally. The Ladies are smart / fashionable but nothing outlandish. Only the boss wears a suit and does most of the time. It is a matter that has never been discussed or even hinted at under our current boss or his two female predecessors during my time at the school.

Ship's Cat 

I'm secondary not primary, however, while the vast majority of men are EXPECTED to wear shirt, tie and smart trousers, the women are only reminded about appropriate dress but there appears to be some young female teachers who certainly do not dress appropriately, either because they choose to or because they don't realise that what they are wearing is totally inappropriate for school (low rise trousers and low cut tops - fabulous eye candy for teenage boys).

From my point of view the expectations are unfairly biased.