School Uniform Policies Under Scrutiny for Impact on Student Wellbeing

As the weather gets warmer and term draws to a close, students are throwing off their blazers and rolling down their socks – but are rigid school uniform policies affecting students' wellbeing?

Dr Elizabeth Nassem from the University of Bradford researches school bullying and says uniform rules, many rooted in "Victorian era" thinking, are increasingly out of step with the realities facing young people today.

"When teachers are required to enforce inflexible rules without the autonomy to apply professional judgement, routine interactions can slip into something far more damaging," she said.

"Girls have described feeling sexualised or humiliated when told to 'cover up', even when that is not the intention. That experience has serious consequences for self-esteem, trust and mental health."

Jessica, a 17-year-old student at Notre Dame Sixth Form College in Leeds, went to a school in Bradford with a "strict" uniform policy which she said was uncomfortable.

"On hot days we were sometimes allowed to wear socks - rather than tights - but they kind of laid off of that in the later years when I was there and I remember we all came in and my form teacher literally shouted saying 'you all look like porn stars' - I was in year nine at the time.

"It's almost like this body that becomes a female, which starts to become a woman, becomes punished. And I think that's how they see it."

"There were these skirts and they were called Charleston skirts so they'd be like really tight at the top and then they go out like really low down, but all the girls were rolling up.

"They had uniform checks some days in the morning where you'd have to stand up and go around and if you didn't have the right uniform then you'd be held behind in form and get a negative."

Blessing, who is also 17, said it was not just skirts - you could also be picked on for trousers that were too tight.

"There are a few situations where I was like, 'this is getting a bit weird now, can we stop talking about the length of girls' skirts'?

"When I'm kind of standing around in the hallway and I'm looking at a male teacher confronting a group of 12-year-old girls and asking them to roll down their skirts and stuff, it would just feel slightly uncomfortable."

Nassem said removing uniforms from schools was not the way forward and has sympathy with teachers and schools who are trying to manage complex adolescent behaviour.

"I think the first thing they need to do is actually speak to the pupils and find out what their issues are and then start to look at developing the dress code in a way that's informed and it really comes from pupil voice.

"A lot of the uniforms are kind of associated with those Victorian times and how people used to dress a long time ago."

Alvaston Moor Academy said the change - which will come into force for Year 7 pupils from September - was more "practical", as the clothing could be used at school and at home.

"I aspire to go into law as a legal scientist so there is that aspect of some sort of professionality so I would expect to wear something similar."

Diego also likes his uniform. He is now studying at college in Leeds but spent some of his secondary education in Barcelona, where there was no uniform policy.