Most schools sport a uniform, the most eclectic of all is the one fashioned by the staff.
Ranging from haute couture to shabby chic (without the chic), the team model a beautifully diverse showcase that never fails to surprise. Whoever you are, whatever your role, this season’s collection is ingeniously accessorised with a lanyard. Some dress for a board meeting with Lord Sugar, others sartorially brace themselves for the 4-year-old equivalent of the UFC. Falling somewhere in between is an interesting blend of both; Skechers, Crocs and kitten mules mingle with tattoos, tabards and the occasional piercing. Sometimes all at once. Teachers choose fashion and function to create their own sartorial rules.
There are times when rules go out of the window, however. The annual School Sports Day is one such occasion. Urged to ‘dress appropriately,’ staff invariably arrive in the right gear for the wrong occasion. Some resurrect 1980s Lycra, others go full ‘gym-shark’. The results can be equally shocking. One member of staff’s transformation will entail removing his tie. It seems a PE kit is actually an ‘ante-kit,’ compromising attire not seen for the other 364 days of the year. Should your school be selected to compete at the Olympics, no one would have a clue where they herald from.
Which is a quite beautiful thing. Because whilst a uniform promotes shared identity, education is about celebrating individuality. Both are equally important. Working together is the only way to achieve potential. There is no teaching without learning and vice versa.
Identity is forged from the inside out; the right way to be is to be yourself rather than trying to imitate. They say a picture speaks a thousand words. A snapshot of the staff would surely relay that everyone is different, which means that anyone can fit in. As a teacher, your celebration of diversity is an endorsement of free thinking. In a world hell-bent on following a trend, you are the few that continue to blaze a trail.
One size never fits all. Thank you for making sure we don’t forget it.