In all of the schools in which I have taught, we had casual Fridays -- teachers could wear jeans or sportswear. As a student teacher, I was thrilled that I could wear jeans because that meant I did not have to change out of my good teaching clothes before going to my evening classes. But my experience has led me to question whether or not casual Fridays are a good idea, especially for young or new teachers. On the Fridays when I wore jeans, I was often mistaken for a student by fellow teachers and administrators. Furthermore, the students noticed the change and, of course, told me exactly what they thought. One student said, "Ms. Harper, if I didn't know you, I wouldn't believe you were a real, actual teacher. You look like a high schooler. How old are you anyway?" Clearly, this is not a great situation for a young teacher who is trying to establish her authority. So, my solution was not to participate in casual Fridays, or, if I wore jeans, to dress them up with more polished attire. The page below has great suggestions for making jeans look respectable. I particularly like putting jeans with distinctive flats, pearls, and a flouncy blouse made of silk or chiffon.
I have posted above a pair of dark wash, high waist jeans and a ruffled, floral blouse that I might pair together on a casual Friday, along with perhaps a nice watch and silver studs. Jeans? yes. Sloppy? no.
There has been a lot of debate about whether or not casual Fridays have a positive or negative impact on productivity (click on this link for more details - http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-30940397/does-casual-dress-affect-productivity/ ) and numerous studies have actually been conducted on the topic! My main thought on the matter is that teachers need to be especially careful about how they dress when they are meeting with parents because we must communicate (via our attire and other means) that we are trustworthy, competent professionals. If we don't look like "real, actual teachers," how can we expect our parents to trust that we take our jobs seriously?
On that note, here is a page that makes interesting points on both sides of the casual-dress-at-work argument. It also raises the point that the ubiquitous phrase "dress professionally" is not so clear anymore - what does it mean to dress professionally these days?
Thoughts?
