SHOULD teachers be given work uniforms and told how to wear their hair?
Do teachers really need to dress professionally?
Most times teachers and principals just wear what they wear because it’s comfortable or just what they happen to own. But the insinuations for what you wear may influence you, your colleagues, and your students.
Some teachers need to consider how they dress, consider how their appearance impacts both them and their students. They need to consider what they might change to maximize the impact of the way they look. As master communicators, teachers need to embrace the power of the subtle cues their manner of dress sends. Ask your self does my work attire influence my students or just other, am I a role model to them? What important messages does my dress code send? Am I setting an example showing how an adult professional should look and behave?
It is wise to dress professionally so that your pupils give them an understood message about how you see yourselves and the job you are doing. The more professional you dress the more your students feel imperative and see you as a role model.
Send the “I care about you, I am your role model and you are important to me” message, because they themselves will be becoming young professionals. Also the more parents are involved the more of a role model you become to their children.
What do you think? Send us your views on the matter, either by answering the various questions posed in our introductory article or by giving us your own insights into the topic. Email us at [email protected]. Send us a message on Facebook (Annou Palé) or like the page. Visit The VOICE website at http://wwww.thevoiceslu.com or Whatsapp us at 1-758-519-2718.
The dress code in St. Lucia is already too strict for teachers. There is a lot more to a person than what he or she chooses to wear. By expecting something as superficial as attire to send a message to students you are teaching them to focus more on what matters less. Yes they should be discreet but if you teach Woodwork or Building Technology for example, it’s certainly not necessary to come to school dressed in a shirt and tie. I’m also not sure where you found your statics/information because I find that most teachers dress appropriately enough.
In fact I think it should be acceptable to just wear jeans, sneakers and polo shirts. Standing for six hours on some days is not easy on the feet. I’ve heard that some principals require all female teachers to wear heels. Absolutely ridiculous and posts like these hinder progress!
If u feel so empowered by your view above why do you hide behind anonymity? Teachers have a moral imperative to dress professionally. I lecture (not teach) at a university in the UK to adults 18+ and yet I have a moral and professional responsibility to dress appropriately.
Lloydon
That’s a catchy topic, it got monotonous after the first paragraph. It could have been written better.
Christine Nice, English teacher, Author