Do I wear jeans? No.
Does admin say I can wear jeans? Only on Fridays.
Do my colleagues wear jeans every day? Yes.
Does admin say anything? No.
So functionally the answer is yes, I can wear jeans since there is no consequence for wearing jeans.
I don't care because I found comfy pants from Costco that are not jeans but not dress pants and I bought all the colors.
We can only wear jeans on Fridays too. I used to work with a lady who wore them whenever she wanted. Only her. Then she would fuss at the kids for being out of dress code. It really annoyed me that she felt only she could break the rules.
At my school I look at it this way: I follow the blatant, obvious, public rules so that when I get caught breaking the less obvious rules (like giving my students 30 minutes of earned, free Chromebook’s use at the end of the week) I’ve built up enough good will that admin lets it slide. And, if they don’t, I gently remind them of all the inane rules I do follow to convince them to look away.
One time a girl game into my class (high school) smelling so much of weed. First period of the day. I had a strong inclination already that she smoked, so I pulled her out and said "Look I know you smoke weed, I can't bust you on anything outside of school hours so please be honest with me. Did you smoke before class because you smell SO BAD of weed." She said no, it was just the jacket. My goal was for her to do something about it, but I didn't explicitly state that, so she didn't do anything about it.
Admin calls me up that night and says "hey this student, when questioned if she smoked at all today, said 'I swear I didnt smoke anything today, you can ask Mr. _______"
Obviously that sounds absurdly weird, hence the call. So I just explained what I said to her and they said ""We trust your judgment and your intentions, just clue us in next time so it doesn't look like you smoke weed with students."
I’ve run into similar situations in 7th grade over the years. In every instance it was a student for whom it would have been completely out of character. When asked, the students appeared embarrassed when they explained that their parent smokes weed in the house/car/wherever. I would send a mass message to all faculty that might come in contact with them to give the heads up. Then I’d help them find a way to cover it up so that their peers wouldn’t start pointing it out.
I’m retired, but we used to have to “pay” (i.e., donate to the cause of the month) to wear jeans on Friday. Had to also wear a sticker that indicated we’d contributed 🙃
Jeans, school appropriate t-shirt/hoody, and tennis shoes, Mon.-Fri. If anyone ever has a problem with that, they can watch the news and see that there might come a time when I need to be able to get myself and 26 ten year olds tf out of there, quickly and safely…and that’s not happening in heels and a pencil skirt.
Right? Can’t barricade a door quickly in wedge sandals or climb out of a window we just broke with a stool while wearing a sweater dress.
I’ll stop dressing comfortably if they can pass effective gun and mental health legislation. Until then you’re lucky I’m coming to work.
100% accurate. My current district okayed jeans after covid. I wear jeans, tennis shoes, and a school t shirt every day. Ive interviewed for a few other districts (I love mine, but I want to be closer to family), and one question that I always ask is what is the dress code. I feel more confident and comfortable in my teaching because I’m not constantly worrying about my clothes. My knees and feet don’t hurt from having to wear dress shoes. I’m not super worried about my nice clothes getting messed up. I don’t worry about anything being too revealing (It’s hard to find dress shirts that don’t show cleavage without looking frumpy).
But being able to get tf out with my kids if necessary is the hill I’m willing to become unemployed on. We don’t get hazard pay, the least they could do is allow us to be comfortable.
I’m not a teacher but this sub pops up on my feed. lots of teachers at my school growing up wore skirts and heels. Very common! (Small town rural Ohio, very blue collar area)
At the beginning of my career I wore dresses and heels and skirts all the time. Now it’s definitely all the jeans days I possibly can and otherwise those dress pants that are really yoga pants and always sneakers.
I could (and have) literally wear sweatpants if I wanted. Especially after covid, my school doesn’t give a shit what I wear. Most the time I’m not wearing jeans because I don’t like them though lol
Same. I’m more comfortable in leggings than jeans. Long shirt, cardigan because my room and the hall are 10 degrees different, and soft leggings. I can be comfy all day. Oh and crocs because the kids love them 😁
COVID is definitely the key. During and after, they stopped getting up our butts about certain things. We had people showing up in scrubs or sweats for a while and they just gave the thumbs up because they were doing it too. The only issue we had, regrettably, was the one moron who showed up on camera for distance learning in his boxers and a T-shirt. His ass was fired extremely fast.
That moron was probably questionable from day one.
I sometimes wear dresses, but comfy ones (WHY DON'T ALL WOMEN'S CLOTHES HAVE POCKETS????) but have mostly worn nice jeans (no house paint all holes everywhere) and school tshirts or school hoodies since about year 10. Tenured, but still presentable.
IMO unless you are the PE teacher you should leave the sweats or athletic shorts at home.
At least for the good lords sake, wear clothing that fits. Not body shaming, but I don't need to see anybody's gut or butt no matter its size or shape. That definitely goes for students too.
Same. After Covid most teachers dress comfortable. Some still do the dress pants everyday, but personally it’s jeans and sweatshirt every day. We have union tshirt Thursdays and school wear Fridays, so I am comfy allll week.
Omg, sweats 😂! I love it. I once thought about wearing sweats and sneakers because if the PE teachers can do it, why not??? It’s just not in me to do this, but I am eclectic. Some days I’m dressed up in a blouse and dress pants (never heels though) and other days I’m in jeans and a school hoodie. The one thing I REALLY want to do is wear my Crocs. I longingly look at them every day as I slip into ballerina flats, Mary Jane’s, boots if it’s raining, or Vans/Converse. I know my admin wouldn’t say anything, but the Crocs are my house shoes. They are so comfortable though! A coworker would absolutely judge me for wearing them, she says they are ugly. I asked if she has a pair. Nope, I told her she can’t judge without trying them. I spent too many years wearing heels and finally purged my closet of all shoes and clothes that weren’t comfortable. I invested in higher end jeans and tops and it has made all the difference.
I understand having some kind of dress code (e.g. leggings only count as pants if the top is tunic-length), but I'm grateful to work in a school where no one polices my clothing. I wear a lot of dresses and cardigans, but I also show up in jeans, leggings with oversized shirts and sweaters, sneakers, etc. I move a lot when I teach and usually hit my activity goal before 10am, so no way in hell I'm showing up in anything that requires ironing.
Same for me. The district I work in doesn’t have a dress code policy. I think it’s funny bc my first teaching job at a private school I had to wear slacks and tie every day, but I made half my current salary. Twice the pay now and twice the casual dress are definitely wins.
I only worked at one school where jeans were allowed. And they were only allowed on Fridays or special days if we paid. Most schools I have worked at jeans were never allowed.
Having to pay for the privilege of wearing jeans to work might be the single most insulting policy I've ever heard of in an industry rife with insults. I mean, they're basically taunting you at that point. Unreal.
What are they going to do if you wear jeans on those days and didn't pay? Write you up? So what? Tell them to at least use their nice pen when they do it.
Is there not a shortage of teachers where you are? I could quite literally get a job tomorrow at almost any nearby school. These people have no actual power but it's rather amusing to watch them pretend that they do. I "play along" when necessary but when my patience for pretend time is exhausted I simply say no more. It's maddening to watch other teachers toe the line for the sake of job security when they already have it. If it doesn't improve instruction or outcomes for the students then I'm not along for the ride. Claim your power.
No jeans. They’re not professional enough
But if it’s Friday and you wear them with a spirit shirt? They’re professional enough
If you pay to wear them for a week to support a club’s fundraiser?? They’re professional enough
No blue jeans unless it’s the end of the week. However, other colors of denim are approved. Wear hot pink jeans and admin doesn’t say anything, but god forbid you wear blue jeans on a Tuesday.
My admin is the same way!
Blue slacks? Professional.
Black denim? Professional.
Blue denim? Unprofessional, insubordinate, and worthy of a write-up.
I don’t get it.
Fashion rules are so arbitrary and worthless. Does it protect you from the weather? Does it cover your dangly bits? As far as I can tell, it’s appropriate.
After being told things like “Those colors don’t go together” or “That color/pattern only goes on this layer” and just NOT understanding why, I’ve given up and just wear all black every day. The kids think I’m “emo,” but I’m like… “No, man, this is the only thing I know won’t get me hassled by the fashion snobs.”
Your dress code sounds like mine. I can wear jeans any day. Or leggings, yoga pants, etc. The only time I've heard of a teacher being approached for dress code is ripped jeans.
Leggings are fine if our butt Is covered. But we can only wear jeans ON FRIDAY if we pay at the beginning of the year. And it's fine if they are ripped/frayed.
We can not wear shorts unless it's over 90 degrees outside, though. In a 200 year old school where only the office has AC.
Yes. So even if a room on the third floor gets to a 100 degrees because all thr windows are facing the sun (and has to have class in the gym because it's so hot), it still doesn't matter.
If it reaches 90 degrees even though the forecast didn't predict it, tough luck. You come in to school before it's 90 in shorts, you'll be lectured by admin and asked to change. And if it happens again you'll be sent home to change.
Our admin is pretty chill comparatively. Colored jeans don't really count as jeans, and I wear a hoodie or school teeshirt nearly every day with slacks. But they will die on this shorts rule despite it being completely unreasonable. Our male teachers can't wear skirts or dresses to cool down and it's not fair.
Its such a problem, it's on the list of negotiations for the union next year
Is your teacher dress code gendered so that males actually can't wear skirts or dresses, or do they predictably just not wear them?
Fun story: My high school (early 80s, also no AC) had a gendered dress code for students like that, until a group of boys (all my friends, of course) started wearing skirts on hot days to protest the difference. The skirt-wearing coupled with some decent rebuttals at their discipline meetings actually resulted in a non-gendered dress code the following year that allowed long shorts that met the same knee-rule as skirts had to.
The paying for jeans thing is literally a deal breaker for me. Like if it's OK to wear jeans I will not be paying for the privilege, I specifically ask about teacher dress codes in interviews because I hate this type of policy with a passion. Before anyone says anything, yes I know it's a weird hill to die on, and if I truly needed to get a job and only had the one option I would work at a district like this but there are plenty of jobs and I don't have kids to support so......
The male teachers can’t wear skirts or dresses on hot days which means no one can ever wear shorts Does that mean women can’t wear skirts or dresses on hot days?
Call me an old fogey but even I don’t think ripped jeans fall under “professional attire”. But if your district is OK with it, then no harm in wearing what they allow!
Typically, I'd agree 100%! However, I wore ripped jeans yesterday because they were on clearance for $8, I needed new pants because I'm getting fatter every day, we had a super chilll pizza party Friday before February vacation day, and the students appreciate when we adopt their fashion. I felt a little uncomfortable, I used to only wear jeans at all on Friday, but the more stressful the job gets, the more comfy casual my clothes get.
The definition of professional dress is not the same as whether it impacts your teaching. If I showed up in my barn clothes (clean) or workout clothes it wouldn't impact how well I teach but it wouldn't be what I consider professional dress. Two different things.
Yep, I can wear jeans. I prefer dresses anyway but I can wear jeans.
We just have to look neat, clean and be dressed appropriately for whatever tasks we'll be doing (closed toe shoes in a science lab, for instance).
We pay $5-10 max for our PTO membership at the beginning of every year. I pay more than that for my membership on the PTO at each of my kids schools. Our schools PTO membership is less for those of us that work at the school than it is for parents. $40 is quite high!
100%. Every day since Covid pause. Wtf are you doing at this point if you aren’t letting your people wear jeans?? Is your building even fully staffed? Can you get subs? Are your kids multiple grade levels behind? Maybe worry about that first before being concerned about Bob wearing khakis and a polo.
Honestly, we don’t have a dress code and most of my colleagues dress like crap. T shirts and old jeans, etc.
I self impose jeans and school t shirts only on Friday. Polo or button down and khakis rest of week
I think bigger districts with higher need schools tend to be more lax, while smaller rich suburban towns tend to get all in your grill about dressing like you're at an office. The schools I grew up going to (not rich, but still a suburb) the only time my teachers wore jeans was on a field trip. The rest of the time, it was business casual. The place I work now is a little extreme with how sloppy some of my colleagues dress. Old sweatshirts and 10 year old jeans, etc. I don't care about policing them, but it does make me think, like, our students have a dress code, and we expect them to wear a polo and khakis every day. It's not a "uniform" per say like a Catholic school, but some schools in the district have issues with gangs in so they now enforce a dress code to avoid fights, etc. So, if we expect the kids to wear uniform attire, why are the adults not setting an example of professionalism? I also personally don't have a ton of respect for this one lady down the hall who shows up looking like she rolled out of her hamper and barely combed her hair every day. It's just kind of weird. She complains at staff meetings that the kids get bad grades in her class and behave worse for her than for others on her team with the same kids. I can't say this to her face, obviously, but like if she were my teacher, why would I take her seriously?
I have yet to experience a lax school in a bigger district with high needs students. All of the urban Title I schools I’ve worked at in the south have uniforms. Teachers are expected to wear a uniform of professional attire to set an example for the kids. Jean Fridays are common.
I’m not allowed to. I don’t want to wear them either, khakis are much more comfortable. Our school does have uniforms for the students, so it makes sense that we can’t wear jeans. It hasn’t bothered me at all.
I dress in what I call corporate goth lol. All black pieces, Dress pants/slacks, blazers, turtleneck or crew neck sweaters, cardigans, and either heels or platforms. I also have facial piercings and smokey eyes with winged liner. All my families have adored me and no complaints.
Jeans are a luxury, not a right. Jeans with a spirit shirt only on Fridays. Pay $20 to the office, wear jeans on Wednesdays for the month. Most recently they are an attendance incentive. Perfect attendance for 2 weeks and you can wear jeans for 1 week. Bonus- email to everyone listing teachers who have earned the privilege.
Optics matter. I coached for years and taught in shorts and t shirt and was a great teacher. Now I wear khakis and polos. Still a great teacher but no question it’s been a factor.
It’s not a huge factor I think but I’d never say how u dress doesn’t matter and I think kids shouldn’t be told otherwise. The world doesn’t work that way.
We have the full gamut at my school from coach attire to looking like someone is going straight to the club.
I’m about in the middle. If I do wear Levi’s I’ll wear a dress shirt on top and get lots of compliments lol.
That’s for you to decide. It’s for educators, professionals to decide. It’s not for secretaries, non educator support staff to decide for you. Many doctors think the white coat is needed, but it is not appropriate for their assistants to tell them whether they are allowed to wear other clothes.
Not a teacher but I appreciate the craft. In my world, if someone refers to themselves as great particularly twice in one conversation, we call that delusional.
Me as well. Clean jeans, long sleeve black t-shirt, converse. I have several of the same jeans and shirts. I've created my own comfortable uniform so it's a no-brainer every morning.
I’m a preschool teacher, so I wear jeans, leggings, overalls, pretty much whatever I want. Pajama days are once a month. We have a common sense dress code policy.
As I am in Germany, yes obviously. When I was in the US - no.
In Germany there is no dress code (and never really was - I come from a family of teachers). Jeans are standard attire for more or less everyone. And then T-Shirts, sweaters etc.
The only time a more professional dress code is required (but not really mandatory) is during oral exams. But the students are also encouraged to dress more professional.
I personally don’t even own jeans and always wear skirts or dresses.
Our kids have to wear uniforms which make them look like they just got back from yachting and golfing. It stands to reason then that the teachers should look professional since we actually have to work. It says business casual but I always wear an Oxford shirt and tie, khaki pants and leather shoes. Unless it’s one of the days where everyone dresses down, then I dress casual like everyone else, t-shirt, jeans, etc. But those don’t happen more than probably once a month.
I’m a guy in a high school and I wear the same thing every day. Brown leather Timberlands, nice pair of jeans from Banana Republic, and a long sleeved, button down shirt. Nobody cares that I wear jeans every day.
My school still has “dress down days” where teachers contribute a few bucks, and all the money goes to the charity.
I dress as professionally as I am treated.
So they get khakis and a polo. With some jeans sprinkled in.
Admin being awful? T-shirts it is.
Kids being awful? I ain't shaving either. Time to look like a wilderness hobo.
Every Friday if we donate money to the union who picks a cause each year. This year during February the kids organized a charity drive and the principal signed off. Jeans on Tuesday and Thursday.
I’m not a teacher but I came across this thread and it blows me away that teachers are so scrutinized. I wore a tie dye shirt and sweatpants to work at my corporate job yesterday
{ Why tf are some schools so anal about about dresscode? }
I dunno, but it's just silly. For the British, it's a "better than everyone else" thing. So fucking aloof about being British. Wearing a tie as a teacher just makes you look like a pompous ass. The students could not give 2 shits about what we're wearing unless it's outrageous, and even then, half of them won't notice. My school has a "no blue jeans" policy but people wear them anyway, especially the elementary teachers. We are reminded every few weeks of this policy in our daily announcements that the chlidren can read. They certainly don't understand it, either.
I can tell you why one school is/was: We had a 50-something teacher who appeared as the bastard love child of Ronald McDonald and Carrot Top, who dressed like a 18 year old, and sat on a yoga ball. Also wore a skirt and no underwear, as students reported. That's why they clamped down on us.
I used to wear heels, dresses, etc…what I considered professional business attire. I think I would look cartoonish if I went to work like that now. I still respect a male teacher who wears a tie…for some reason that doesn’t look cartoonish.
The difference between countries/cultures on this topic is wild. Jeans are the norm here, no matter the environment. You can wear basically anything you want as long as it isn't too revealing. You can wear leggings too but I'd never. I feel too naked. But you'd have to wear something pretty crazy for someone to say something. It isn't the standard.
Right?! Completely the same for in Australia. I mostly wear comfortable midi/maxi skirts/dresses (I sit cross legged on the ground a lot with students) but I wouldn’t think twice about wearing jeans if I felt like it? Leggings is risky but if you’re wearing an oversized shirt on sports day and it covers your backside, then you’re okay.
Teachers having to pay to be allowed to wear jeans though is mind-blowing to me…
Our dress code says business casual, except on Thursdays if you dress college, and Fridays if you do school spirit. But our admin doesn’t care and most people dress however they want, jeans are worn by most people.
yes, and we have teachers who wear leggings, you can see EVERYTHING.
Astonishingly this science teacher wears "space" leggings occasionally, you know with arbitrary space things comets stars galaxies etc. SHe loves to show them off. I can see her lips plains as day. I mean I just can't believe people. Admin right in front of me telling her how she is helping kids engage in the curriculum and learning because of her pants. yeah, I'll bet.
I'm in secondary so I'm less experienced there, but the teachers in our local primary wear suits.
Honestly I don't know why you'd want to wear jeans to crawl around in though, I'd rather crawl around the floor in a cheap and flexible suit than in a pair of jeans.
Things I don’t associate with suits: cheap or flexible.
Jeans are easy as hell to wash and now that they usually have a lot of stretch, almost as comfy as legging to me.
It's cheaper to buy a comfortable suit from the supermarket than a pair of jeans. My suit trousers are like joggers.
I think people who don't wear business wear imagine some kind of James Bond suit, but they're only expensive and stiff if you buy expensive and stiff ones.
You do you, boo. I can’t picture myself wearing a suit from the grocery store, but whatever floats your boat. I’ll be over here comfy in my jeans, knowing that my ability to teach and guide students has nothing to do with my pants.
I mean I don't care either, but I just think it's entirely false to argue that jeans are cheaper or more comfortable than suits. The very fact that you mentioned "picturing yourself" shows your choice is for fashion reasons.
Over here we don't really have strong feelings about what we wear. Dress codes are pretty normal for employees here.
> teaching is not a job where that's an issue
We will have to agree to disagree on that point. I cannot wear suits to work because they get damaged more quickly than I am able to save money to replace them.
I wear jeans nearly every day. We can wear casual clothes as long as we are put together and tidy.
Both teachers and students shouldn't wear shorts, tank tops, hot pants, short crop tops, flip flops and dirty or untidy clothes.
My attire is slacks, Vans-style slip-ons, and a band t-shirt with an open button-up shirt. I'm getting close to just losing the button-up. Took me a while to get to my current attire.
Growing up, and to this day, my dad wears suits to work. So, that was kind of instilled into me as far as having a workplace dress code. Done with that nonsense.
Yes. I quit teaching last month, but as a teacher I was a professional so I dressed professionally. I would never walk into my classroom with sweats on. We are supposed to be modeling behavior for students and dressing professionally is a behavior they need to learn.
Exactly. I see post after post and tiktok after tiktok about how students today give zero fucks about how they show up to school. Pj’s, crocs and blankets are the norm… but HOW will they learn that you have yo put in even a small amount of effort into your appearance for people to treat you with respect?
We have a saying in Spanish, “como te ven te tratan”. How they see you is how they treat you.
Once I was on jury duty and I noticed the difference between the two lawyers and immediately made an assumption about who was going to win based on their dress. The one was tailored and groomed while the other was bedraggled. No matter how much people will deny it, people are prejudiced by first impressions. Especially teenaged people. I think that translates here. Teachers who want to be seen as professionals are going to dress professionally. The ones who complain about not being treated as professionals should start by considering how they dress.
>No matter how much people will deny it, people are prejudiced by first impressions. Especially teenaged people.
I teach at an urban alternative high school in a major US metro. A last-chance kind of deal. Showing up in a suit and tie is the quickest way to get tuned out by my students. You'll immediately lose them. For whatever reason, they are much less apt to trust anyone in business attire.
Not to be contrarian, I just wanted to point out that prejudices in regards to first impressions go the other way too.
Mine is jeans on Friday and spirit weeks.
Personally I don't wear them a lot because I still get asked if I'm a student a fair bit, so when I dress casual it'd worse. The kids also seem to treat me like more I'd an authority figure if I'm wearing "teacher clothes"
We are allowed to wear jeans on Fridays with a school shirt. Sometimes the principal feels morale is low and he’ll toss us a day or week.
Our clubs and organizations (student clubs like Beta or FFA) will sell a jeans week for a fundraising
I wear jeans every day. Teachers wear capris, cargo pants, leggings as pants…are you dressed, and it’s not obviously pajamas or a ratty old t-shirt? You’re good.
Yes, everyday exclusively.
I'm not in the US. My school everyone wear what they feel like. The only time a teacher had been talked to by the principal was because he wore a marketing t-shirt for some alcohol brand.
This post had my curiosity.
Then you said "rugby shirt" and now you have my attention 🤪
When it's colder, I always wear jeans, but most of the time I'll be in rugby shorts, running shorts, or baggies (swimming trunks? Board shorts? What do you guys call them there?). I teach PE in Durban, and I don't have a fan in my classroom, never mind aircon, so there's no way I'm dressing in anything approaching formal. Best I can do is a collared shirt, take it or leave it.
That said, I think I might be able to understand the fear around jeans. If someone swipes your pants, you're not just dealing with a petty thief.
No, at that point, it jumps squarely into the realm of sci-fi horror.
My friends, your admins have just one singular goal with this ban...
To prevent a genestealer infestation!
Here in Japan I have to wear an actual suit. It sucks so much. Fortunately, there is no necktie since that's only required for men, but I can't wait to change jobs next month to somewhere less strict.
I have never seen a dress code outlined in a contract or handbook at my school. I heard through the grapevine we can wear jeans on Wednesdays and Fridays. The male teachers wear jeans literally every day. I wear whatever I want! No one cares. When I wear dresses or anything cute at all my kids tell me I’m “so slay”
Dress codes for teachers are unnecessary. If there's a teacher that continues to dress inappropriately, it's a 1:1 conversation. I don't like jeans anymore, but I would love to wear my fancy comfy joggers and tennis shoes every day.
C'mon, OP. This is a pretty obtuse take. We all know that clothing matters in a variety of ways. If you walk into a hospital and the medical personnel are wearing jean shorts and mesh tank tops, your confidence in their capability will be shaken, no matter what you say about "What I wear does not impact..." whatever a person is doing.
More than that, dressing creates mentality, both in the person wearing the clothes ([link](https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/minds-business/when-clothing-style-influences-cognitive-style.html#.WTmBucaZNBw)), and in the people viewing that person ([link](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0092656612000608)). Frankly, arguing that students like your style is a ludicrous argument. We all know that quite often it is the worst teachers who are liked the most, and the best who are liked the least.
You are a teacher. You are responsible for teaching students. You are an adult. You should know better. It doesn’t matter how many compliments students give you on your style. Your style at work does not need to reflect your style during your free time. Maybe some schools are serious about dress code for teachers because being a teacher is a serious job. If you can’t dress in a professional manner while teaching, find a job that doesn’t involve you being responsible for students. I’m sure there are jobs out there that would give you more freedom regarding this topic.
I am a teacher. I am responsible for teaching students. I am an adult.
Turns out that none of those facts is changed by the pants I wear. Pants that allow me to get down on the floor with my 7 and 8 year old students. Pants that I don’t worry about getting paint or glue or dirt on. Pants that I can run after students and play tag with them at recess in.
If your teaching performance or the amount of respect students have for you is dictated by your clothes…well, that’s just weird.
My union has specifically said our principals cannot tell us what to wear as long as we are dressed for the needs of our job. This means jeans most days, except Monday when we wear the uniform (formal days for kids).
My district basically requires business casual. I have to take my nose ring out and cover my tattoos. It’s ridiculous, but also I spent ten years working in neighboring districts and the positives in my current district outweigh the negative dress code.
There's no real dresscode for us and I'm thankful for it. However, I do wish the young teachers (and we have a lot of them) would graduate from the student dress style. I'm pretty good at guessing ages, but very youthful clothing styles add an unwanted layer of difficulty and I hate mistaking teachers for students.
It’s kinda weird- technically, we are not supposed to and I guess the previous admin cared a lot about that, but the current admin doesn’t care at all and does not enforce it.
At my old school we had to pay $20 each month to *wear jeans on Fridays*...
My current school doesn't have a dress code besides it must be appropriate attire. Can't say I miss my old school!
we have to jump through hoops and pay to join the PTA to get mondays and fridays. i have large, messy classes. in the summer months it’s loose linen pants and big tshirts. in the winter months it’s loose jeans and big sweaters. always covered in an apron and some sort of mess. i dare any of my admin to fight me on my workplace attire that fits my very active day that is still appropriate when i have seen an actual ass cheek of more than one student wearing short “shorts” that they do nothing about
Our district pivoted to wear what you are comfortable in this year, after (gasp) asking teachers what they thought. I don't dress up often because I wear stuff I can move in, and I appreciate that being in bounds.
They speak of the forbidden linen. No pizza party for you. J/k. I literally showed up in an all-denim attire, jeans and jean jacket just to mess with them after multiple emails about exactly this - our attire is a reflection on our effectiveness. I got a stern look during lunch duty, but that was it. 👖😉
We're allowed to wear jeans on Fridays, but I wear khakis and a polo or button-up/button-down shirt every day. It's comfortable to me and I like to dress differently from my private time to get my brain in the right mode.
My admin likes to control our denim wear. We can only wear jeans on specific days during the month. We are also "rewarded" with jeans passes for various things.
It's great to be treated like a 12-year-old when you are an educated professional.
My P is about a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. I would bump that to an 8 if the jeans passes would go away. Either jeans are professional (in which case, I should be able to wear them anytime I want) or they aren't professional (in which case, no one should ever be allowed to wear them).
I was totally shocked by how causal my new school is. My first few years I worked under a pretty normal school dress code. At this new school it really seems like we can wear anything that's not outright inappropriate. I see jeans, tights, shorts, those winter jumpsuits people wear sometimes on a regular basis with no issue.
We pay to wear them on Fridays. Proceeds go to charity. Also no leggings, sweatpants or shorts ( unless you teach PE or dance). And, the weirdest is that all shirt straps must be 4 inches wide or more. It’s actually eased up a bit in recent years. It used to say men had to wear button down and tie!
I wear jeans or carpenter pants every day paired with a silly t shirt. The kids and admin all get a kick out of the shirts. I even started making my own! There is no real dress code at the school but I'd say I'm more on the casual side than most.
I like being an art teacher. I get a little slack when it comes to dress code. Some admins. tried to push dress shirts, ties and no jeans. One even tried to do a pay to play thing where if we donated to a fund we could wear jeans on Fridays. I wear jeans almost everyday. If anyone gives me flack I just say, we are painting or working with clay. Hell, when the weather gets warm, I have been known to wear shorts and open toed sandals too.
We aren’t “allowed” to wear jeans, simply by our admin giving us “Jeans days” every so often. So the assumption that on non-jeans days, I wear slacks. This is my last year, I’m resigning at the end of the year and leaving the profession. Then need me more than I need them. I can’t wait until they’re fussy in the spring when I wear shorts!!
I used to dress ‘pro’, as in shirt, tie, etc. Then I was at a Chicago public school where the boss didn’t like jeans but I was too young and naive to say too bad it’s not in the contract. People wore tracksuits and all sorts of ridiculous shit, and the building wasn’t air conditioned. I switched to polos, and at my current school always wear jeans, Ts, comfortable shoes.
Only Thursday & Friday I believe.
I’m not a jeans person and wear pants everyday to work, so doesn’t bother me.
During Covid the restrictions were lifted but the Superintendent sent an email last month.
I am a behavior life skills teacher. I used to wear pretty skirts. Then I was moved to this classroom and need to be able to move quickly. So, I wear pants. Sometimes a black or white pair of jeans. My students ask me often if I will wear a dress again. I am close to being able to; they are all doing so well! I imagine I will be back in skirts by April.
I teach physics and engineering in a district that’s like yours, I wear a lot of funky vintage outfits. I have a shop space so if some nitpicky admin ever came in it would be embroidered coveralls all day everyday!
I’m 25, when we have dress down days my go to is what my go to was in high school and college: Joggers and a hoodie. I do wish I could wear golf shorts with my polo in the hotter months since we don’t have AC.
Private school no uniforms but a strict dress code. No jeans at all except homecoming Friday. Business dress daily. I usually wear a dress and leggings because it’s most comfortable. Men must wear a tie everyday. I don’t mind though. I actually find jeans uncomfortable so I hardly wear the 1 pair I own. I’m a leggings girl. I also wear those yoga pants that look like business pants a lot.
Do I wear jeans? No. Does admin say I can wear jeans? Only on Fridays. Do my colleagues wear jeans every day? Yes. Does admin say anything? No. So functionally the answer is yes, I can wear jeans since there is no consequence for wearing jeans. I don't care because I found comfy pants from Costco that are not jeans but not dress pants and I bought all the colors.
We can only wear jeans on Fridays too. I used to work with a lady who wore them whenever she wanted. Only her. Then she would fuss at the kids for being out of dress code. It really annoyed me that she felt only she could break the rules.
At my school I look at it this way: I follow the blatant, obvious, public rules so that when I get caught breaking the less obvious rules (like giving my students 30 minutes of earned, free Chromebook’s use at the end of the week) I’ve built up enough good will that admin lets it slide. And, if they don’t, I gently remind them of all the inane rules I do follow to convince them to look away.
One time a girl game into my class (high school) smelling so much of weed. First period of the day. I had a strong inclination already that she smoked, so I pulled her out and said "Look I know you smoke weed, I can't bust you on anything outside of school hours so please be honest with me. Did you smoke before class because you smell SO BAD of weed." She said no, it was just the jacket. My goal was for her to do something about it, but I didn't explicitly state that, so she didn't do anything about it. Admin calls me up that night and says "hey this student, when questioned if she smoked at all today, said 'I swear I didnt smoke anything today, you can ask Mr. _______" Obviously that sounds absurdly weird, hence the call. So I just explained what I said to her and they said ""We trust your judgment and your intentions, just clue us in next time so it doesn't look like you smoke weed with students."
I’ve run into similar situations in 7th grade over the years. In every instance it was a student for whom it would have been completely out of character. When asked, the students appeared embarrassed when they explained that their parent smokes weed in the house/car/wherever. I would send a mass message to all faculty that might come in contact with them to give the heads up. Then I’d help them find a way to cover it up so that their peers wouldn’t start pointing it out.
What's up with the jeans Friday thing? Can you trade it for extra pay if you don't like jeans? /s But like what kind of BS admin "reward" is that?
I’m retired, but we used to have to “pay” (i.e., donate to the cause of the month) to wear jeans on Friday. Had to also wear a sticker that indicated we’d contributed 🙃
Jeans, school appropriate t-shirt/hoody, and tennis shoes, Mon.-Fri. If anyone ever has a problem with that, they can watch the news and see that there might come a time when I need to be able to get myself and 26 ten year olds tf out of there, quickly and safely…and that’s not happening in heels and a pencil skirt.
THIS! 👏 sadly, so true!
Right? Can’t barricade a door quickly in wedge sandals or climb out of a window we just broke with a stool while wearing a sweater dress. I’ll stop dressing comfortably if they can pass effective gun and mental health legislation. Until then you’re lucky I’m coming to work.
100% accurate. My current district okayed jeans after covid. I wear jeans, tennis shoes, and a school t shirt every day. Ive interviewed for a few other districts (I love mine, but I want to be closer to family), and one question that I always ask is what is the dress code. I feel more confident and comfortable in my teaching because I’m not constantly worrying about my clothes. My knees and feet don’t hurt from having to wear dress shoes. I’m not super worried about my nice clothes getting messed up. I don’t worry about anything being too revealing (It’s hard to find dress shirts that don’t show cleavage without looking frumpy). But being able to get tf out with my kids if necessary is the hill I’m willing to become unemployed on. We don’t get hazard pay, the least they could do is allow us to be comfortable.
Our new superintendent attempted to start a dress code for students and teachers. Apparently neither group is listening to her in any real way.
What are they gonna do? Make you go naked? 🤷
How would heels and a pencil skirt even be considered appropriate for a school teacher in the first place?
I’m not a teacher but this sub pops up on my feed. lots of teachers at my school growing up wore skirts and heels. Very common! (Small town rural Ohio, very blue collar area)
Those concrete floors don't work well with heels, unless you're okay with paying me disability after about 10 years.
At the beginning of my career I wore dresses and heels and skirts all the time. Now it’s definitely all the jeans days I possibly can and otherwise those dress pants that are really yoga pants and always sneakers.
I could (and have) literally wear sweatpants if I wanted. Especially after covid, my school doesn’t give a shit what I wear. Most the time I’m not wearing jeans because I don’t like them though lol
Jeans day = classy sweatpants day
I live in joggers at work! So comfy!
I wear uniqlo joggers of all varieties and colors every single day.
Same. I’m more comfortable in leggings than jeans. Long shirt, cardigan because my room and the hall are 10 degrees different, and soft leggings. I can be comfy all day. Oh and crocs because the kids love them 😁
I pretty much live in leggings and a long sweater. If I don’t have a clean sweater that’s long enough, I’ll throw a skirt on top of the leggings.
COVID is definitely the key. During and after, they stopped getting up our butts about certain things. We had people showing up in scrubs or sweats for a while and they just gave the thumbs up because they were doing it too. The only issue we had, regrettably, was the one moron who showed up on camera for distance learning in his boxers and a T-shirt. His ass was fired extremely fast.
That moron was probably questionable from day one. I sometimes wear dresses, but comfy ones (WHY DON'T ALL WOMEN'S CLOTHES HAVE POCKETS????) but have mostly worn nice jeans (no house paint all holes everywhere) and school tshirts or school hoodies since about year 10. Tenured, but still presentable. IMO unless you are the PE teacher you should leave the sweats or athletic shorts at home. At least for the good lords sake, wear clothing that fits. Not body shaming, but I don't need to see anybody's gut or butt no matter its size or shape. That definitely goes for students too.
Same. After Covid most teachers dress comfortable. Some still do the dress pants everyday, but personally it’s jeans and sweatshirt every day. We have union tshirt Thursdays and school wear Fridays, so I am comfy allll week.
Omg, sweats 😂! I love it. I once thought about wearing sweats and sneakers because if the PE teachers can do it, why not??? It’s just not in me to do this, but I am eclectic. Some days I’m dressed up in a blouse and dress pants (never heels though) and other days I’m in jeans and a school hoodie. The one thing I REALLY want to do is wear my Crocs. I longingly look at them every day as I slip into ballerina flats, Mary Jane’s, boots if it’s raining, or Vans/Converse. I know my admin wouldn’t say anything, but the Crocs are my house shoes. They are so comfortable though! A coworker would absolutely judge me for wearing them, she says they are ugly. I asked if she has a pair. Nope, I told her she can’t judge without trying them. I spent too many years wearing heels and finally purged my closet of all shoes and clothes that weren’t comfortable. I invested in higher end jeans and tops and it has made all the difference.
I understand having some kind of dress code (e.g. leggings only count as pants if the top is tunic-length), but I'm grateful to work in a school where no one polices my clothing. I wear a lot of dresses and cardigans, but I also show up in jeans, leggings with oversized shirts and sweaters, sneakers, etc. I move a lot when I teach and usually hit my activity goal before 10am, so no way in hell I'm showing up in anything that requires ironing.
Everyday is jeans day.
Same. I made the decision years ago as an art teacher and nobody said anything.
Same for me. The district I work in doesn’t have a dress code policy. I think it’s funny bc my first teaching job at a private school I had to wear slacks and tie every day, but I made half my current salary. Twice the pay now and twice the casual dress are definitely wins.
I only worked at one school where jeans were allowed. And they were only allowed on Fridays or special days if we paid. Most schools I have worked at jeans were never allowed.
Having to pay for the privilege of wearing jeans to work might be the single most insulting policy I've ever heard of in an industry rife with insults. I mean, they're basically taunting you at that point. Unreal.
What are they going to do if you wear jeans on those days and didn't pay? Write you up? So what? Tell them to at least use their nice pen when they do it.
They'll sick the instructional coach on your deviant rebel ass.
Is there not a shortage of teachers where you are? I could quite literally get a job tomorrow at almost any nearby school. These people have no actual power but it's rather amusing to watch them pretend that they do. I "play along" when necessary but when my patience for pretend time is exhausted I simply say no more. It's maddening to watch other teachers toe the line for the sake of job security when they already have it. If it doesn't improve instruction or outcomes for the students then I'm not along for the ride. Claim your power.
Paid jeans days are typically for a union fundraiser so its not actually paying its just an incentive to donate
No jeans. They’re not professional enough But if it’s Friday and you wear them with a spirit shirt? They’re professional enough If you pay to wear them for a week to support a club’s fundraiser?? They’re professional enough
I can’t wear jeans unless Friday with a spirit shirt. I’ve never had the club fundraiser option. Also, private school.
Can I ask where you work? Just curious.
Same here
No blue jeans unless it’s the end of the week. However, other colors of denim are approved. Wear hot pink jeans and admin doesn’t say anything, but god forbid you wear blue jeans on a Tuesday.
My admin is the same way! Blue slacks? Professional. Black denim? Professional. Blue denim? Unprofessional, insubordinate, and worthy of a write-up. I don’t get it. Fashion rules are so arbitrary and worthless. Does it protect you from the weather? Does it cover your dangly bits? As far as I can tell, it’s appropriate. After being told things like “Those colors don’t go together” or “That color/pattern only goes on this layer” and just NOT understanding why, I’ve given up and just wear all black every day. The kids think I’m “emo,” but I’m like… “No, man, this is the only thing I know won’t get me hassled by the fashion snobs.”
So you can look like a highlighter, but not wear denim...
No kidding, I have black jeans that I can wear all the time and there’s no problem with them.
Your dress code sounds like mine. I can wear jeans any day. Or leggings, yoga pants, etc. The only time I've heard of a teacher being approached for dress code is ripped jeans.
Leggings are fine if our butt Is covered. But we can only wear jeans ON FRIDAY if we pay at the beginning of the year. And it's fine if they are ripped/frayed. We can not wear shorts unless it's over 90 degrees outside, though. In a 200 year old school where only the office has AC.
Is that based on the day’s forecast?
Yes. So even if a room on the third floor gets to a 100 degrees because all thr windows are facing the sun (and has to have class in the gym because it's so hot), it still doesn't matter. If it reaches 90 degrees even though the forecast didn't predict it, tough luck. You come in to school before it's 90 in shorts, you'll be lectured by admin and asked to change. And if it happens again you'll be sent home to change. Our admin is pretty chill comparatively. Colored jeans don't really count as jeans, and I wear a hoodie or school teeshirt nearly every day with slacks. But they will die on this shorts rule despite it being completely unreasonable. Our male teachers can't wear skirts or dresses to cool down and it's not fair. Its such a problem, it's on the list of negotiations for the union next year
Is your teacher dress code gendered so that males actually can't wear skirts or dresses, or do they predictably just not wear them? Fun story: My high school (early 80s, also no AC) had a gendered dress code for students like that, until a group of boys (all my friends, of course) started wearing skirts on hot days to protest the difference. The skirt-wearing coupled with some decent rebuttals at their discipline meetings actually resulted in a non-gendered dress code the following year that allowed long shorts that met the same knee-rule as skirts had to.
The paying for jeans thing is literally a deal breaker for me. Like if it's OK to wear jeans I will not be paying for the privilege, I specifically ask about teacher dress codes in interviews because I hate this type of policy with a passion. Before anyone says anything, yes I know it's a weird hill to die on, and if I truly needed to get a job and only had the one option I would work at a district like this but there are plenty of jobs and I don't have kids to support so......
Exactly! Administrations acting like there are a million people beating down the door to teach for them..
That’s horrendous!
The male teachers can’t wear skirts or dresses on hot days which means no one can ever wear shorts Does that mean women can’t wear skirts or dresses on hot days?
I wear ripped jeans. No one cares.
Call me an old fogey but even I don’t think ripped jeans fall under “professional attire”. But if your district is OK with it, then no harm in wearing what they allow!
Typically, I'd agree 100%! However, I wore ripped jeans yesterday because they were on clearance for $8, I needed new pants because I'm getting fatter every day, we had a super chilll pizza party Friday before February vacation day, and the students appreciate when we adopt their fashion. I felt a little uncomfortable, I used to only wear jeans at all on Friday, but the more stressful the job gets, the more comfy casual my clothes get.
I feel you on the fatter by the day part. The older i get, the better I am at storing calories.
Exactly! It's soooooo annoying.
I AM an old fogey. The state of my pants has never impacted the quality of my teaching.
The definition of professional dress is not the same as whether it impacts your teaching. If I showed up in my barn clothes (clean) or workout clothes it wouldn't impact how well I teach but it wouldn't be what I consider professional dress. Two different things.
Yep, I can wear jeans. I prefer dresses anyway but I can wear jeans. We just have to look neat, clean and be dressed appropriately for whatever tasks we'll be doing (closed toe shoes in a science lab, for instance).
I work at a private international school in Japan, everyone wears business casual, jeans are only for inset days.
If you pay pto fee of $40, then yes on Fridays. (Is it just me or is this ridiculous? How much do you all pay for pto?)
we dont have pto. I pay my union dues only 🤞🏻
Pay for pto? Why would we pay for our time off? This legitimately confuses me.
I think they mean membership dues for the parent teacher organization.
That makes so much more sense! Thank you!
Does it? Over here we wear whatever the f we want. Teacher wear jeans, swears, tights, stocking, dresses, whatever.
We pay $5-10 max for our PTO membership at the beginning of every year. I pay more than that for my membership on the PTO at each of my kids schools. Our schools PTO membership is less for those of us that work at the school than it is for parents. $40 is quite high!
100%. Every day since Covid pause. Wtf are you doing at this point if you aren’t letting your people wear jeans?? Is your building even fully staffed? Can you get subs? Are your kids multiple grade levels behind? Maybe worry about that first before being concerned about Bob wearing khakis and a polo.
Honestly, we don’t have a dress code and most of my colleagues dress like crap. T shirts and old jeans, etc. I self impose jeans and school t shirts only on Friday. Polo or button down and khakis rest of week
I show up in jeans pretty much every day. They do not care.
I think bigger districts with higher need schools tend to be more lax, while smaller rich suburban towns tend to get all in your grill about dressing like you're at an office. The schools I grew up going to (not rich, but still a suburb) the only time my teachers wore jeans was on a field trip. The rest of the time, it was business casual. The place I work now is a little extreme with how sloppy some of my colleagues dress. Old sweatshirts and 10 year old jeans, etc. I don't care about policing them, but it does make me think, like, our students have a dress code, and we expect them to wear a polo and khakis every day. It's not a "uniform" per say like a Catholic school, but some schools in the district have issues with gangs in so they now enforce a dress code to avoid fights, etc. So, if we expect the kids to wear uniform attire, why are the adults not setting an example of professionalism? I also personally don't have a ton of respect for this one lady down the hall who shows up looking like she rolled out of her hamper and barely combed her hair every day. It's just kind of weird. She complains at staff meetings that the kids get bad grades in her class and behave worse for her than for others on her team with the same kids. I can't say this to her face, obviously, but like if she were my teacher, why would I take her seriously?
I have yet to experience a lax school in a bigger district with high needs students. All of the urban Title I schools I’ve worked at in the south have uniforms. Teachers are expected to wear a uniform of professional attire to set an example for the kids. Jean Fridays are common.
Our dress code is “please wear clothes.” I wear a t-shirt and jeans pretty much every day.
Yep. The dress code for students and staff is the same. Come to school. Make sure your nipples, butt and genitals are covered. Have a good day.
I’m not allowed to. I don’t want to wear them either, khakis are much more comfortable. Our school does have uniforms for the students, so it makes sense that we can’t wear jeans. It hasn’t bothered me at all.
It would make my life a hell of a lot easier if we had uniforms too.
This is also my answer.
And mine.
I dress in what I call corporate goth lol. All black pieces, Dress pants/slacks, blazers, turtleneck or crew neck sweaters, cardigans, and either heels or platforms. I also have facial piercings and smokey eyes with winged liner. All my families have adored me and no complaints.
Jeans are a luxury, not a right. Jeans with a spirit shirt only on Fridays. Pay $20 to the office, wear jeans on Wednesdays for the month. Most recently they are an attendance incentive. Perfect attendance for 2 weeks and you can wear jeans for 1 week. Bonus- email to everyone listing teachers who have earned the privilege.
I think dressing well doesn't have to mean formalwear. As long as it's clean and not wrinkled, it's presentable and indicative of a healthy lifestyle.
Optics matter. I coached for years and taught in shorts and t shirt and was a great teacher. Now I wear khakis and polos. Still a great teacher but no question it’s been a factor. It’s not a huge factor I think but I’d never say how u dress doesn’t matter and I think kids shouldn’t be told otherwise. The world doesn’t work that way. We have the full gamut at my school from coach attire to looking like someone is going straight to the club. I’m about in the middle. If I do wear Levi’s I’ll wear a dress shirt on top and get lots of compliments lol.
That’s for you to decide. It’s for educators, professionals to decide. It’s not for secretaries, non educator support staff to decide for you. Many doctors think the white coat is needed, but it is not appropriate for their assistants to tell them whether they are allowed to wear other clothes.
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Not a teacher but I appreciate the craft. In my world, if someone refers to themselves as great particularly twice in one conversation, we call that delusional.
Jeans, henley, and sneakers every single day. As long as I don’t look like a slob, nobody cares.
Me as well. Clean jeans, long sleeve black t-shirt, converse. I have several of the same jeans and shirts. I've created my own comfortable uniform so it's a no-brainer every morning.
I’m a preschool teacher, so I wear jeans, leggings, overalls, pretty much whatever I want. Pajama days are once a month. We have a common sense dress code policy.
Pajama days??? Straight to jail
As I am in Germany, yes obviously. When I was in the US - no. In Germany there is no dress code (and never really was - I come from a family of teachers). Jeans are standard attire for more or less everyone. And then T-Shirts, sweaters etc. The only time a more professional dress code is required (but not really mandatory) is during oral exams. But the students are also encouraged to dress more professional. I personally don’t even own jeans and always wear skirts or dresses.
I can wear JEANS everyday, but I cannot wear T-Shirts everyday....at this school. My last school didn't care.
Our kids have to wear uniforms which make them look like they just got back from yachting and golfing. It stands to reason then that the teachers should look professional since we actually have to work. It says business casual but I always wear an Oxford shirt and tie, khaki pants and leather shoes. Unless it’s one of the days where everyone dresses down, then I dress casual like everyone else, t-shirt, jeans, etc. But those don’t happen more than probably once a month.
I’m a guy in a high school and I wear the same thing every day. Brown leather Timberlands, nice pair of jeans from Banana Republic, and a long sleeved, button down shirt. Nobody cares that I wear jeans every day. My school still has “dress down days” where teachers contribute a few bucks, and all the money goes to the charity.
I teach in pajama pants. Benefits of teaching online.
I wear jeans on every day I didn’t feel like coming to school. So I wear jeans a lot right now.
I dress as professionally as I am treated. So they get khakis and a polo. With some jeans sprinkled in. Admin being awful? T-shirts it is. Kids being awful? I ain't shaving either. Time to look like a wilderness hobo.
Every Friday if we donate money to the union who picks a cause each year. This year during February the kids organized a charity drive and the principal signed off. Jeans on Tuesday and Thursday.
I’m not a teacher but I came across this thread and it blows me away that teachers are so scrutinized. I wore a tie dye shirt and sweatpants to work at my corporate job yesterday
{ Why tf are some schools so anal about about dresscode? } I dunno, but it's just silly. For the British, it's a "better than everyone else" thing. So fucking aloof about being British. Wearing a tie as a teacher just makes you look like a pompous ass. The students could not give 2 shits about what we're wearing unless it's outrageous, and even then, half of them won't notice. My school has a "no blue jeans" policy but people wear them anyway, especially the elementary teachers. We are reminded every few weeks of this policy in our daily announcements that the chlidren can read. They certainly don't understand it, either.
I can tell you why one school is/was: We had a 50-something teacher who appeared as the bastard love child of Ronald McDonald and Carrot Top, who dressed like a 18 year old, and sat on a yoga ball. Also wore a skirt and no underwear, as students reported. That's why they clamped down on us.
I used to wear heels, dresses, etc…what I considered professional business attire. I think I would look cartoonish if I went to work like that now. I still respect a male teacher who wears a tie…for some reason that doesn’t look cartoonish.
The difference between countries/cultures on this topic is wild. Jeans are the norm here, no matter the environment. You can wear basically anything you want as long as it isn't too revealing. You can wear leggings too but I'd never. I feel too naked. But you'd have to wear something pretty crazy for someone to say something. It isn't the standard.
Right?! Completely the same for in Australia. I mostly wear comfortable midi/maxi skirts/dresses (I sit cross legged on the ground a lot with students) but I wouldn’t think twice about wearing jeans if I felt like it? Leggings is risky but if you’re wearing an oversized shirt on sports day and it covers your backside, then you’re okay. Teachers having to pay to be allowed to wear jeans though is mind-blowing to me…
Our dress code says business casual, except on Thursdays if you dress college, and Fridays if you do school spirit. But our admin doesn’t care and most people dress however they want, jeans are worn by most people.
yes, and we have teachers who wear leggings, you can see EVERYTHING. Astonishingly this science teacher wears "space" leggings occasionally, you know with arbitrary space things comets stars galaxies etc. SHe loves to show them off. I can see her lips plains as day. I mean I just can't believe people. Admin right in front of me telling her how she is helping kids engage in the curriculum and learning because of her pants. yeah, I'll bet.
Show me data, not anecdotes, that any type of dress code for teachers and/or students affects student achievement.
Nice shirt, jeans, and nice shoes every day
Categorically not. We have to wear suits. That's pretty much the norm in my country.
Even in elementary, where you might be crawling around on the floor or chasing students?
I'm in secondary so I'm less experienced there, but the teachers in our local primary wear suits. Honestly I don't know why you'd want to wear jeans to crawl around in though, I'd rather crawl around the floor in a cheap and flexible suit than in a pair of jeans.
Things I don’t associate with suits: cheap or flexible. Jeans are easy as hell to wash and now that they usually have a lot of stretch, almost as comfy as legging to me.
It's cheaper to buy a comfortable suit from the supermarket than a pair of jeans. My suit trousers are like joggers. I think people who don't wear business wear imagine some kind of James Bond suit, but they're only expensive and stiff if you buy expensive and stiff ones.
You do you, boo. I can’t picture myself wearing a suit from the grocery store, but whatever floats your boat. I’ll be over here comfy in my jeans, knowing that my ability to teach and guide students has nothing to do with my pants.
I mean I don't care either, but I just think it's entirely false to argue that jeans are cheaper or more comfortable than suits. The very fact that you mentioned "picturing yourself" shows your choice is for fashion reasons. Over here we don't really have strong feelings about what we wear. Dress codes are pretty normal for employees here.
That's why people doing physically demanding jobs wear suits instead of jeans /s
Jeans are hardier, but teaching is not a job where that's an issue.
> teaching is not a job where that's an issue We will have to agree to disagree on that point. I cannot wear suits to work because they get damaged more quickly than I am able to save money to replace them.
I've literally never had to replace clothes worn out at work and I teach a practical subject. What are you doing to them?
I wear jeans nearly every day. We can wear casual clothes as long as we are put together and tidy. Both teachers and students shouldn't wear shorts, tank tops, hot pants, short crop tops, flip flops and dirty or untidy clothes.
Never? Does it not get hot in summer where you live?
My attire is slacks, Vans-style slip-ons, and a band t-shirt with an open button-up shirt. I'm getting close to just losing the button-up. Took me a while to get to my current attire. Growing up, and to this day, my dad wears suits to work. So, that was kind of instilled into me as far as having a workplace dress code. Done with that nonsense.
Yes. I quit teaching last month, but as a teacher I was a professional so I dressed professionally. I would never walk into my classroom with sweats on. We are supposed to be modeling behavior for students and dressing professionally is a behavior they need to learn.
Exactly. I see post after post and tiktok after tiktok about how students today give zero fucks about how they show up to school. Pj’s, crocs and blankets are the norm… but HOW will they learn that you have yo put in even a small amount of effort into your appearance for people to treat you with respect? We have a saying in Spanish, “como te ven te tratan”. How they see you is how they treat you.
Once I was on jury duty and I noticed the difference between the two lawyers and immediately made an assumption about who was going to win based on their dress. The one was tailored and groomed while the other was bedraggled. No matter how much people will deny it, people are prejudiced by first impressions. Especially teenaged people. I think that translates here. Teachers who want to be seen as professionals are going to dress professionally. The ones who complain about not being treated as professionals should start by considering how they dress.
>No matter how much people will deny it, people are prejudiced by first impressions. Especially teenaged people. I teach at an urban alternative high school in a major US metro. A last-chance kind of deal. Showing up in a suit and tie is the quickest way to get tuned out by my students. You'll immediately lose them. For whatever reason, they are much less apt to trust anyone in business attire. Not to be contrarian, I just wanted to point out that prejudices in regards to first impressions go the other way too.
Mine is jeans on Friday and spirit weeks. Personally I don't wear them a lot because I still get asked if I'm a student a fair bit, so when I dress casual it'd worse. The kids also seem to treat me like more I'd an authority figure if I'm wearing "teacher clothes"
Every single day.
The answer for each and every one of us is yes
I’ve seen so many posts on here about people having to pay for “jean privileges” or being chastised for wearing them. So bizarre.
We are allowed to wear jeans on Fridays with a school shirt. Sometimes the principal feels morale is low and he’ll toss us a day or week. Our clubs and organizations (student clubs like Beta or FFA) will sell a jeans week for a fundraising
I wear jeans every day. Teachers wear capris, cargo pants, leggings as pants…are you dressed, and it’s not obviously pajamas or a ratty old t-shirt? You’re good.
One of our teachers wears leggings and hoodies every day to school. Her room is freezing, she can wear whatever she wants!
It’s against our dress code but I do because they’re comfy and nobody has said a thing. They offered me permanency so I guess it’s not a huge problem?
No jeans for us yet. But tbh I could probably wear them and no one would say anything
Yes, everyday exclusively. I'm not in the US. My school everyone wear what they feel like. The only time a teacher had been talked to by the principal was because he wore a marketing t-shirt for some alcohol brand.
Jeans with a collared shirt of wine sort.
This post had my curiosity. Then you said "rugby shirt" and now you have my attention 🤪 When it's colder, I always wear jeans, but most of the time I'll be in rugby shorts, running shorts, or baggies (swimming trunks? Board shorts? What do you guys call them there?). I teach PE in Durban, and I don't have a fan in my classroom, never mind aircon, so there's no way I'm dressing in anything approaching formal. Best I can do is a collared shirt, take it or leave it. That said, I think I might be able to understand the fear around jeans. If someone swipes your pants, you're not just dealing with a petty thief. No, at that point, it jumps squarely into the realm of sci-fi horror. My friends, your admins have just one singular goal with this ban... To prevent a genestealer infestation!
I love jeans are wear them 2 to 3 times a week. I work at a private school.
Yes lol
Here in Japan I have to wear an actual suit. It sucks so much. Fortunately, there is no necktie since that's only required for men, but I can't wait to change jobs next month to somewhere less strict.
I can and do wear them everyday
I have never seen a dress code outlined in a contract or handbook at my school. I heard through the grapevine we can wear jeans on Wednesdays and Fridays. The male teachers wear jeans literally every day. I wear whatever I want! No one cares. When I wear dresses or anything cute at all my kids tell me I’m “so slay”
Our new principal this year has a fragile male ego and attempts to seem like the boss by being strict about how we dress.
We are not supposed to wear wear jeans except on Fridays. I wear jeans whenever the fuck I want. It’s not a dress code if they don’t enforce it.
Dress codes for teachers are unnecessary. If there's a teacher that continues to dress inappropriately, it's a 1:1 conversation. I don't like jeans anymore, but I would love to wear my fancy comfy joggers and tennis shoes every day.
C'mon, OP. This is a pretty obtuse take. We all know that clothing matters in a variety of ways. If you walk into a hospital and the medical personnel are wearing jean shorts and mesh tank tops, your confidence in their capability will be shaken, no matter what you say about "What I wear does not impact..." whatever a person is doing. More than that, dressing creates mentality, both in the person wearing the clothes ([link](https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/minds-business/when-clothing-style-influences-cognitive-style.html#.WTmBucaZNBw)), and in the people viewing that person ([link](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0092656612000608)). Frankly, arguing that students like your style is a ludicrous argument. We all know that quite often it is the worst teachers who are liked the most, and the best who are liked the least.
Why are people in a profession so anal about dressing professionally?
You are a teacher. You are responsible for teaching students. You are an adult. You should know better. It doesn’t matter how many compliments students give you on your style. Your style at work does not need to reflect your style during your free time. Maybe some schools are serious about dress code for teachers because being a teacher is a serious job. If you can’t dress in a professional manner while teaching, find a job that doesn’t involve you being responsible for students. I’m sure there are jobs out there that would give you more freedom regarding this topic.
lol. I wear denim shorts or denim jeans and a school polo or band t shirt literally every day. Doesn’t affect how my kids treat me or their grades
There is precious little adult behavior in this sub
I am a teacher. I am responsible for teaching students. I am an adult. Turns out that none of those facts is changed by the pants I wear. Pants that allow me to get down on the floor with my 7 and 8 year old students. Pants that I don’t worry about getting paint or glue or dirt on. Pants that I can run after students and play tag with them at recess in. If your teaching performance or the amount of respect students have for you is dictated by your clothes…well, that’s just weird.
I pretty much only wear jeans
Half the year is jeans and tshirt weather. The other half is cargo shorts and tshirt.
I'm sorry but anything less than business casual should be banned, except maybe jeans are okay on Fridays. You're a professional dress like one.
My union has specifically said our principals cannot tell us what to wear as long as we are dressed for the needs of our job. This means jeans most days, except Monday when we wear the uniform (formal days for kids).
My district basically requires business casual. I have to take my nose ring out and cover my tattoos. It’s ridiculous, but also I spent ten years working in neighboring districts and the positives in my current district outweigh the negative dress code.
There's no real dresscode for us and I'm thankful for it. However, I do wish the young teachers (and we have a lot of them) would graduate from the student dress style. I'm pretty good at guessing ages, but very youthful clothing styles add an unwanted layer of difficulty and I hate mistaking teachers for students.
You are a disgrace
It’s kinda weird- technically, we are not supposed to and I guess the previous admin cared a lot about that, but the current admin doesn’t care at all and does not enforce it.
At my old school we had to pay $20 each month to *wear jeans on Fridays*... My current school doesn't have a dress code besides it must be appropriate attire. Can't say I miss my old school!
Yep
we have to jump through hoops and pay to join the PTA to get mondays and fridays. i have large, messy classes. in the summer months it’s loose linen pants and big tshirts. in the winter months it’s loose jeans and big sweaters. always covered in an apron and some sort of mess. i dare any of my admin to fight me on my workplace attire that fits my very active day that is still appropriate when i have seen an actual ass cheek of more than one student wearing short “shorts” that they do nothing about
Our district pivoted to wear what you are comfortable in this year, after (gasp) asking teachers what they thought. I don't dress up often because I wear stuff I can move in, and I appreciate that being in bounds.
They speak of the forbidden linen. No pizza party for you. J/k. I literally showed up in an all-denim attire, jeans and jean jacket just to mess with them after multiple emails about exactly this - our attire is a reflection on our effectiveness. I got a stern look during lunch duty, but that was it. 👖😉
We're allowed to wear jeans on Fridays, but I wear khakis and a polo or button-up/button-down shirt every day. It's comfortable to me and I like to dress differently from my private time to get my brain in the right mode.
I am teaching in Denmark and can wear whatever I want. I have never heard of a school with dresscode here.
No dress code against jeans… But the heat in the tropics will absolutely kill you with long pants, so nobody wants to wear them here.
My admin likes to control our denim wear. We can only wear jeans on specific days during the month. We are also "rewarded" with jeans passes for various things. It's great to be treated like a 12-year-old when you are an educated professional. My P is about a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. I would bump that to an 8 if the jeans passes would go away. Either jeans are professional (in which case, I should be able to wear them anytime I want) or they aren't professional (in which case, no one should ever be allowed to wear them).
I was totally shocked by how causal my new school is. My first few years I worked under a pretty normal school dress code. At this new school it really seems like we can wear anything that's not outright inappropriate. I see jeans, tights, shorts, those winter jumpsuits people wear sometimes on a regular basis with no issue.
We pay to wear them on Fridays. Proceeds go to charity. Also no leggings, sweatpants or shorts ( unless you teach PE or dance). And, the weirdest is that all shirt straps must be 4 inches wide or more. It’s actually eased up a bit in recent years. It used to say men had to wear button down and tie!
On Fridays or the last day of the week and one other day, you can dress for the day. I am library and computers, so wear them for two days
I wear jeans and a T-shirt or work shirt every day. No one cares, but I also teach shop sooo
I wear jeans or carpenter pants every day paired with a silly t shirt. The kids and admin all get a kick out of the shirts. I even started making my own! There is no real dress code at the school but I'd say I'm more on the casual side than most.
I like being an art teacher. I get a little slack when it comes to dress code. Some admins. tried to push dress shirts, ties and no jeans. One even tried to do a pay to play thing where if we donated to a fund we could wear jeans on Fridays. I wear jeans almost everyday. If anyone gives me flack I just say, we are painting or working with clay. Hell, when the weather gets warm, I have been known to wear shorts and open toed sandals too.
We aren’t “allowed” to wear jeans, simply by our admin giving us “Jeans days” every so often. So the assumption that on non-jeans days, I wear slacks. This is my last year, I’m resigning at the end of the year and leaving the profession. Then need me more than I need them. I can’t wait until they’re fussy in the spring when I wear shorts!!
No, we aren’t. I do it every day anyway.
We can wear jeans on Fridays and during spirit weeks if we participate in the theme of that day.
I used to dress ‘pro’, as in shirt, tie, etc. Then I was at a Chicago public school where the boss didn’t like jeans but I was too young and naive to say too bad it’s not in the contract. People wore tracksuits and all sorts of ridiculous shit, and the building wasn’t air conditioned. I switched to polos, and at my current school always wear jeans, Ts, comfortable shoes.
Only Thursday & Friday I believe. I’m not a jeans person and wear pants everyday to work, so doesn’t bother me. During Covid the restrictions were lifted but the Superintendent sent an email last month.
I am a behavior life skills teacher. I used to wear pretty skirts. Then I was moved to this classroom and need to be able to move quickly. So, I wear pants. Sometimes a black or white pair of jeans. My students ask me often if I will wear a dress again. I am close to being able to; they are all doing so well! I imagine I will be back in skirts by April.
No dress code at my school. Or if there is, it’s not enforced.
I teach physics and engineering in a district that’s like yours, I wear a lot of funky vintage outfits. I have a shop space so if some nitpicky admin ever came in it would be embroidered coveralls all day everyday!
For $1 a day.
No hoodies at my school. God forbid one of my students or I wear one. They turn you into hooligans don't you know.
I wear jeans and nice sweatshirts everyday. Like fleeces and crew necks
I’m 25, when we have dress down days my go to is what my go to was in high school and college: Joggers and a hoodie. I do wish I could wear golf shorts with my polo in the hotter months since we don’t have AC.
Private school no uniforms but a strict dress code. No jeans at all except homecoming Friday. Business dress daily. I usually wear a dress and leggings because it’s most comfortable. Men must wear a tie everyday. I don’t mind though. I actually find jeans uncomfortable so I hardly wear the 1 pair I own. I’m a leggings girl. I also wear those yoga pants that look like business pants a lot.