Children's and Teachers’ Attitudes towards School Uniform

Presented byGrammar Junior School

Class 5AAnna Thomas

Children’s and Teachers’ Attitudes Towards School Uniform

Social research projects in local communities – The Center for the Study of Childhood and Adolescence in partnership with KTOS is currently carrying out an educational project – DEVELOPING YOUNG RESEARCHERS. The project is funded by UNDP –Act.

The idea behind the program is to encourage and involve children in research as researchers, thus transforming them from passive to active learners.

Class 5A of the Grammar Junior School has participated in this research program under the guidance of Loucas Antoniou and Spyros Spyrou ( The Center for study of Childhood and Adolescence at the European University Cyprus)

The students of Class 5A chose to research the following topic:

CHILDREN’S AND TEACHERS’

ATTITUDES TOWARDS SCHOOL UNIFORM.

This topic had been selected after a class debate as to whether or not school uniform should be abolished. It was an interesting discussion with many good points for and against. As most school children feel very strongly about this issue Class 5A decided it would be a great topic to research.

These were the specific areas investigated:

1. What students and teachers think about the uniform.

2. Why they feel this way. 3. How the students would like to

dress as an alternative to the school uniform.

4. The students designs of their ideal uniform

The methods of data collection that were used:

1. Questionnaire given to both Classes 5A & 5B

2. Teachers were interviewed

3. A video of children “modeling” their ideal uniform.

4. Photos and a video of the children researching and recording their findings.

5. Children’s drawings of their ideal uniform.

How do you feel about school uniform?

All teachers interviewed agreed that it is a good idea!!!

Some people believe that school uniform makes everyone equal. What do you think about this?

10 teachers agree with this statement.

1 teacher disagreed because she believes it’s personality that counts.

In what ways do you think that school uniform makes everyone equal?

• Opinions varied on the way school

uniform makes everyone equal:

• everyone looks the same

• no brand names or competition to fit in

• parents would be forced to buy more new clothes

• it gives a sense of belonging to a group

• you can’t tell rich from poor

Question 3.What about giving the right to children to choose whether or not to wear school uniform?

3 teachers believed children should have a choice.

6 teachers believed they shouldn’t be given a choice.

1 said on special days children should be allowed a choice.

2 said that some children were too young to have a choice.

Teachers Interview

Do you think that the student should have a say in the design of the school uniform ?

7 teachers said yes4 teachers said maybe for the

following reasons

It’s difficult for everyone to agree and please everyone

It’s nice to have children's opinion on the matter

A competition could be held where the children design a uniform they’d be happy wearing.

• What do you think of our school uniform?

• What things do you like or dislike about it? Why?

Again the responses varied.

LIKES

• THE SMARTNESS OF THE UNIFORM.

• IT’S OK.• IT’S

TIDY,COMFORTABLE AND IT HAS NICE COLORS.

• IT’S EASY TO WEAR.

• IT’S NICE.• THE BOYS’

UNIFORM IS NICE.• THE P.E. UNIFORM

IS NICE.

•Dislikes and why

• CAN BE IMPROVED.• IT COULD BE MORE

COLORFUL.• THE GIRLS’

UNIFORM NEEDS TO BE MORE FLATTERING.

• IF IT’S NOT WORN CORRECTLY.

Q.6 How would you feel if you were made to wear a uniform to school?

2 teachers said that this was not a good question

2 teachers said that they wouldn’t mind wearing a

uniform to school1 teacher said that they

would feel strange1 teacher said that it

depended on the uniform

Let us suppose that you are the school director or the person that makes decisions in this school, would you allow a discussion among children, teachers and parents on the idea to ban school uniform?

2 Teachers said yes to allowing a discussion

4Teachers said no to a discussion

5 Teachers said maybe

How do you feel about it personally?

• This question was not answered. There were no personal responses.

What kind of improvements would you suggest for our school uniform?

•School uniform should be more modern

•brighter colors should be added

• Get rid of ties• Wear athletic shoes instead of

black shoes• It should be made more

comfortable

• No improvements are needed• It should be worn correctly• The style and material of the girls

summer uniform should be changed• We should modernize the girls

uniform• I have no ideas

• From this interview we learned how teachers feel about school uniform by working as a group. We found the results by interviewing them and we did the same thing to classes 5a and 5b and then combined the results of both classes.

• Then we wrote the teachers interview results on the computer using Microsoft Power Point. Later on we realized we made a mistake by putting the question neither agree, nor disagree on the students questionnaire because they were not answering truthly and we didn’t know how they truly felt.

• Most of them think that school uniform makes everyone equal and also some of them think that school uniform makes their lives easier by not having to worry about what to wear in the morning. All the children think that the school uniform is a good idea but they also want to have a say in the design of it.

• TO: Mrs. Anna Thomas for beginning the research

• TO: Mr. Loucas from the European University Cyprus

• TO: All the children & teachers that let us interview them

• TO: Mrs. Mary Collins from giving up her free time to help us

• Class 5a and their teacher Mrs. Anna Thomas would like to say a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to Mrs. Mary Collins, who gave up her free time to help us put the whole project together. We couldn't have done it without her.