Scan: What is going on for our learners? My spiral of inquiry is based on teachers attire and if it affects student learning.
Focus: What will have the biggest impact? Does a teachers outfit positively or negatively impact student learning? Will students respect/listen/learn based on what a teacher wears?
Develop a hunch: What is leading to this situation? how are we contributing to it? I believe that the idea of how a teacher should dress is based in tired social norms and dated expectations. We contribute to this problem by continuing to follow it because challenging the status quo is arduous and often feels like a daunting task.
Learn: What do we need to learn? how will we learn this? It’s important to consider as many facts as possible. Each school has a different dress code for teachers, especially when you look at public schools vs. private schools. What are the dress expectations of teachers who identify as male or female, as well as those who don’t follow gender binary? Is there a bias against teachers who identify differently than what is considered to be “the norm”? Is there a bias against those whose bodies are different, i.e. someone who is plus sized or disabled. Those who suffer from seizure disorders may have trouble with brighter colours, or specific patterns. Is there a bias between high schools and elementary schools on how teachers should dress?
Take action: What can we do to make a meaningful difference? It make sense that across the school district, you will find a varied list of dress codes for both students and teachers alike. I believe that there should be a base line for dress codes that apply to both teachers and students, so there is a sense of fairness. It should be up to the individual on how they want to dress, whether it be a student or a teacher. We often teach our students to not judge other based on their appearance, so it should be upheld not only in the classroom, but in the school. The way a teacher dresses can affect their students. for example, wearing a t-shirt with a popular video game character shows your students that you may have similar interests as them, thus makes you more approachable and allow a positive relationship to form. Wearing certain close for the sake of appearing professional or authoritative can prevent connections being built with your students.
Check: Have we made enough of a difference? How do we know? According to The Spiral Playbook, the industrial age had school be about sorting students and either prep them for post-secondary education or a job. This greatly differs from what today’s schools value. “All young people—not only a select few—are now expected to think critically and creatively, to work collaboratively, and to continually transform themselves during their school years and throughout their lifetimes. The same expectations apply to educators and system leaders. This calls for a different kind of classroom learning and a different kind of leadership” (The Spiral Playbook, p. 10). If we are to expect our students to collaborate think critically, then we must do the same as teachers. We lead our students by example and provide them with the knowledge they need to made informed decisions. We teach our students to not judge someone based on how they look, but on their character and values. If we expect our students to do that, then we must follow that rule as well. We won’t know if we’ve made a difference until we try to. And we won’t know if that difference we made was enough until we start.
Photo credit: Maddie Corbett, July 2017.
