The pros and cons of school uniforms

FOR every person who loves school uniforms there is another who doesn’t. The arguments both for and against are compelling enough.

Those who like it argue that if everyone wears the same thing it helps create group identity and is a great leveller because everyone, however well-off or not, wears identical clothes.

That means children can get on and learn without using clothes as competition or exhibition.

Except that’s not necessarily the case. Anyone who has been to a school with uniform, or has a child attending one, knows there are multiple ways of exhibiting differences through styles and expense – from the make of shoes, coats and bags to the haircut you wear. And, of course, how much of the branded and badged items from official uniform suppliers your family can afford.

So while children wear more or less the same uniform at maintained schools, it’s not an absolute leveller.

There is still the option of buying most uniform items more cheaply from supermarkets and there’s no doubt that this is the only affordable option for many families.

Concern about the cost of uniforms on hard-pressed families has prompted the Welsh Government to consult on plans that could see an end to school badges.

Education Minister Jeremy Miles says he wants school governors, who set uniform policies, to pay more heed to uniform cost and what’s required.

While there’s no law specifically covering school uniform and governors can specify what pupils must wear, they are also expected to take into account Welsh Government

statutory guidance on school uniform and appearance policies.

So whatever emerges from Cardiff Bay’s uniform consultation will have an impact.

While the Welsh Government has made clear it doesn’t want an end to school uniforms, it is asking schools to look at cheaper options.

This could see an end to the school uniform logo.

Love them or hate them, school uniforms do minimise clothes competition. And as most parents know, they make it far easier to get ready in the morning without arguments over what children are going to wear.

The school blazer may be controversial, but there’s a long tradition of the main high-school uniform item standing in for goalposts during impromptu games of footy. No badge required.