Teacher in trainers.
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Never mind trainers, shame the educational supremos at Tower Hamlets don't know how to use a subjunctive. Innit.
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The teacher in question appears to have a lamentably immature attitude, especially seeing as he's even older than I am. It is to the great detriment of the profession - and the generations of pupils who have to suffer them - that such throwbacks to the 70s are still all to prevalent.
However, as the current case suggests, give 'em enough rope...
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For some time now the primary function of schools and colleges has been management with education coming a long way behind. This has spawned a flood of Senior Management Teams consisting largely of failed teachers, who are given to making decisions as dismal as this one.
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the same council has now banned the sale of biscuits, chocolate, crisps and sugary drinks in the staffroom in the interests of staff health. They seem more and more determined to treat their staff as they treat their students. Staff are qualified, professional adults. It is getting ridiculous. Goodness know what the nanny council will order us to do next.
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All jobs require that you dress appropriatley. Unless this teacher is a PE teacher he should wear appropriate dress, such as a shirt and tie. If a pupil were to wear trainers I guess they would be sent home.
This teachers comment smacks of "don't do as I do, do as I say" This is not a good example.
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How would anyone notice what he is wearing under his academic gown?
Tony
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I thought teachers wear trainers
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Perhaps the teacher should consider what example it sets to his pupils to show them how to be dismissed from a good job? Perhaps if he can't make his point of principle without losing his job, he may be too stupid to be a teacher?
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Trackie bottoms? The man should be flogged.
(joke, btw)
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Eddie,
It was initially reported that this teacher taught PE but this wasn't covered today. It shifts the question entirely. Please clarify.
Shoes
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St. Paul's Way School's loss....
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Your teacher is obviously an adherent of being as one with his pupils. They presumably attend school in order to improve their sporting prowess and nothing else thus the trainers and track suit bottoms. Dear me shouldn't the fellow remember he is a teacher not one of the boys and that education is a serious business or at least it used to be.
All the best,
NH
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I'm somewhat torn on this one. Part of me (the rebel!) says 'why not?' - the other part (the bit of me that gets very fed up with silliness) says that this teacher has, frankly, been the architect of his own downfall.
As a one-time teacher, I was always inwardly railing at having to 'conform' to certain expectations, but the more rationale side of me did understand that, as a teacher, I was expected to set an example to my pupils. If I'd turned up to work in, let us say, jeans, how on earth could I have had any credibility if I told off a student for not observing the school uniform policy? Now, as it happens, I thoroughly hate school uniform, but that is my opinion, however as a teacher working within a school it was incumbent upon me to support the standards of the school, my workplace, and thereby my employer.
I am still a rebel, and will always be one, but I have learnt to be mature and circumspect - and it sounds like this teacher needs to think very hard about this matter.
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Heavens above, this is not a sacking offence but I believe that all teaching staff at any school must abide by a dress code. If that dress code is collar and tie then so be it; if it is more relaxed then the very least any headteacher should ensure is that the clothing is clean and respectable. I wonder if the teacher in question is a sports teacher? I suspect not but I also suspect that the sports teacher at the same school may well be allowed to wear sports kit when teaching PE theory in class. The bottom line for me is that teaching staff should set a good example. In the school my daughters went to the male staff wore collar, tie and jacket when in class and appropriate smart sports kit for teaching games. I remember one staff member was hauled over the coals for being scruffy, he was told to go and spend some money on some decent clothes. This proved the least costly route than losing his job, something the gentleman from Tower Hamlets should think about in the current economic climate.
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Our convent PE teacher, Bunty Smithers (yes, truly) wore a royal blue track suit and plimsolls daily, set off by short back and sides, and for Speech Day a burly tweed suit and brogues which seemed weirdly skittish in contrast. It made PE seem important and faintly menacing.
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He should've worn a frock, changed his name to Ada and sported a few visible jailhouse tats. Nobody would've noticed.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Admittedly, there are more important battles to fight in our education system right now. Dress codes are reasonable. But should all teachers be exactly the same? Dressing the same, eating the same, teaching the same 4 part lessons, writing the same comments in students' books. Should students be learning to mimic us or should we encourage them to form their own, distinct, individual personalities? Wasn't there once a time when it was ok to be different?
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There's a simple answer to this. Teachers want to believe they are a professional body.
Most (if not all) professional body members would never wear track suit bottoms & trainers to work (sports people excepted perhaps?). Certainly the ones I know nearly all wear a shirt & tie.
Teachers complain at unruly pupils and non respectful classes. They winge about a lack of role models in society.
Wake up folks, they are the role models for these kids. Wearing dummed down clothing looking like you don't care results in pupils with a similar attitude.
Wearing "professional" clothing provides pupils / kids with a clear definition of what attitude they need to adopt out there in the job market - right or wrong!
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I've met a few teacher trainers in my time...
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How can this be a news story? Where's the news? This must happen every day in every walk of life.
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There are only two words to describe the sacking of a teacher wearing trainers 'Absolutely Ridiculous'
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There's a lot of traffic about for such a puerile issue.
22. Three words..'Absolutely Ridiculous Sir'
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I have known Adrian for many years. He is an experienced, principled and highly valued trade union rep, as well as a great teacher. I suspect this sacking is more to do with Adrian's effectiveness as a union rep, rather than his trainers. It is disgusting that the management of St.Paul's Way should treat him in this way after his many years of service to the school. And they actually believe that they can get away with it! Our union - the National Union of Teachers - needs to act now to defend Adrian.
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I think the news paper article referred to the this teacher being a union activist didn't it?
Did anyone read;
"I was singled out and fired while other staff have regularly worn banned items".
Or;
"This is victimisation because I have consistently worked to protect union members against bullying and intimidation" .
Didn't he also say that he'd worn this kind of attire throughout his twenty year teaching career?
If this is true, then there is something rotten in the state of Tower Hamlets Council, me thinks
Hey Eddie,
How would you react if you were suddenly required to wear a tie on all occasions as a radio presenter, like they did in the old days? My my, how standards have fallen.
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Are there not some people who wear trainers because they have some defect or other to their feet that makes wearing other sorts of shoes painful and difficult for them?
Way back in the 1960s I had a (female) teacher who always wore what we called 'daps' with her otherwise standard attire, these being gym shoes with an elasticated side that made them very soft. We understood that she did this because the then-fashionable shoes with heels were agonisingly painful for her. I'm sure she had at some point got the school authorities to say 'yes, you may' about these shoes.
This makes me wonder whether the chap in this case had ever bothered to ask if it was ok to wear them, and provide some reason for doing it -- even if it was a spurious reason, like 'I am a vegan and can't wear leather for quasi-religious reasons, and plastic shoes give me appalling foot-rot'. Chances are that if he had he'd've got away with it.
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Heard you on the radio...
the old adage comes to mind
'think like a general, look like a general, act like a general' ,,, you ARE a general
OR
'think like a prat, look like a prat, act like a prat' ,,, guess what???
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I was always told that one "Bad Apple in the Barrel..."
http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKTRE4BT4IL20081230
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I was under the impression that the teacher in question was a PT teacher.
If the PTIs in the Army could get away with track suits when the rest of us wore smart uniform I do not see why this chap shouldn't be allowed to wear his working dress.
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fredforest: According to the linked story, he is a special needs teacher.
Certainly, in the schools where I taught, it was common practice for PE teachers to wear tracksuits, and no-one considered that inappropriate given that this was part of their job.
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1. As a special needs teacher, it could well be that casual dress was more appropriate given the students in his care.
2. I am a teacher. I run a successful English department, have a beard, never wear a tie and have been known to wear black jeans and, yes, trainers. This has absolutely nothing to do with my ability to do my job. Two of the smartest teachers at my school are also the two most incompetent. A suit does not engender respect, the quality of your teaching does.
3. If challenged about dress codes/uniform by children, my response is always, "when you're an adult you get to choose..." I also get to walk around the classroom, drink coffee, stay inside at break-time, all sorts of exciting things children can't do.
4. School uniform is also a load of nonsense.
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In my day teachers wore suits. They looked like teachers.
And they flogged little kids. I've still got the scars.
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practicaljon, 27.
Spot on!
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Pocketpoet: Presumably, however, if your head imposed a dress code on the staff in your school you would conform? In the case of Mr. Swain, he refused to follow an instruction from his head. In any workplace, refusal to follow such an instruction could lead to dismissal, and teachers are no exception, however wonderful we think we may be!
As to your comment about the dress for special needs teachers, I have never, in many years as a teacher, seen a special needs teacher dress down for their pupils, which in itself is something of an insult towards those pupils, don't you think? If it was appropriate for him to dress in trainers, for example, in the case of regularly having to physically assist a disabled child, he would have had a perfectly reasonable case to make to his head and would, I'm sure, have done so.
I don't see what having a beard and not wearing a tie has to do with this, and if your head is happy for staff to wear black jeans and, occasionally, trainers, then that is fine within your school. I think your comment to your pupils about adults having the right to choose is, frankly, arrogant. I would never speak to a pupil in that way.
If I had my way school uniform would be abolished and British schools would follow the continental model, but it is something that has to be chosen by the wider public, and parents in particular. Teachers also have to conform, as do employees in any work environment. Different work environments have different demands. I can't imagine what it must be like to work in a bank where there is a corporate uniform for 'front of house' staff - so I'd never work in a bank. But my nephew, who works for a multinational corporation but in a context where he doesn't have face-to-face contact with clients, wears jeans and casual clothes most days. Lucky him!
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A PS to my last comment. To my mind, the saddest thing about this story is the threat of industrial action. This will undoubtedly affect the education of the children at this school. And it is nothing to do with them.
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Big Sis - wasn't the original purpose of school uniforms to 'equalize' the well-off and not so? Is there not a danger presented in abolition of turning the schoolday into a mini little celebrity exercise, with all the demand that would make on the pockets of the poorer?
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Jester - That's certainly one of the cases made for school uniforms, though I think there are other reasons (both overt and covert).
It is still possible to avoid the extremes by imposing a basic code, e.g. you can wear jeans, but not designer jeans, and they must be clean and neat. It's a while since I've been to a French or German school, but I was very impressed during past visits by the way in which this matter was negotiated, and you didn't get an impression that poorer children were under any kind of pressure.
School uniform these days is pretty cheap, but for some people just the expense of having to buy another outfit can be a strain on their budgets.
I agree with the thrust of your agrument: schools should work towards an egalitarian atmosphere, but I'm not sure that a formal uniform is the only way to achieve that. You can achieve the same effect by more informal means.
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Big Sister:
If my head chose to impose a dress code, I would a) argue vehemently against it as an imposition and irrelevant, b) seek to undermine it and push it to its absolute limits at every turn.
Regarding special needs teaching, my wife teaches special needs children, and needs to wear clothes that allow her to be mobile and also which don't allow the children opportunities to grab loose items. Hence, jeans, trainers, tracksuits are very practical items. Obviously that depends upon the nature of the special needs.
I disagree, the beard thing was perhaps glib, but equally, children are exactly that, children. As an adult, I can choose to do lots of things that I don't allow my own children to choose. Last night I chose to go to bed at 3am, having forced 3 reluctant children to bed at varying set times between 7.30 and 9. Their television/computer time is limited each day. My daughter has an arbitrary £20 limit on her phone, I have no limit. These are choices we make; when they're adults, they can make their own choices. That's not arrogant, that's part of growing up, the older you are the more freedoms you gain. A certain balance perhaps, as the freedom to just giggle and laugh slowly erodes under the weight of homework... after all, there has to be something good about that process. Some counterweight to the cynicism, the dead weight of politicians, money and so on?
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In the TV report, he got on a bicycle and rode away. Hence the trainers and track suit.
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Teachers in trainers and whiskers on kittens.....la la la....
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Pocketpoet: I think we'll just have to agree to disagree.
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Hamlet Towers reminds me of a TV show I once watched.
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I’m surprised that people try to justify a teacher turning up to teach in track suit and trainers, I think that it is disrespectful to the students and the school because it sends the message ‘anything goes’. I don’t think that it is too much to ask a teacher to wear a normal pair of trousers and street shoes when he goes to work even if he rides a bicycle to work. Nowadays many people ride bicycles to work but I have never come across anybody working in a cycling outfit! I wonder if this teacher would dare to dress in that way if the school instead of being located in one of the most deprived boroughs in London and the country was located in one of the wealthiest.
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Back when I had to wear school uniform at a Quaker school, it was for two clear reasons.
One, it meant that some of the children (very rich, some of them: one of the fathers collected Rolls Royces and had fifteen or so) couldn't be 'superior' by wearing designer clothes and making the poorer pupils -- some of whom had parents on income support -- feel bad about looking different.
Two, it meant that if one of the pupils from that school were seen scrumping apples or shoplifting or whatever else he or she could be immediately recognised as being part of that school and identified more easily.
Regarding school uniform in at least France, hasn't there recently been a row about not what must be worn as part of school uniform but what may *not* be worn? Muslim head-dresses, or some such? And also crucifixes and religious symbols as jewelry? That seems to me to be entirely reasonable as a prohibition: not 'you must wear exactly *this*' but merely 'you may not wear *that*' as the rule for uniform? (Remembering rows about haircuts, and people having to stay away from school until their hair had grown back to an acceptable length, there isn't a lot a school can do against skinheadery or tatoos, but if it is utterly inappropriate clothing it can be dealt with more easily.)
So 'neat and tidy' rather than 'scruff order' could be the ruling. At that point it becomes a matter for individual schools and heads to lay down the rules as to what is considered tidy and what is considered scruffy, with enough common-sense applied for a head to know that whereas this well-off pupil ought to wear better shoes, that poorer pupil can't afford new shoes all the time, and that sort of thing. It does require sense rather than ticking boxes, though, so it'll never happen.
If the teachers are so badly-paid that they can't afford decent shoes, there is something badly wrong anyhow, isn't there?
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Tracksuit pants and trainers on a PE teacher - fine! Or on any athlete, sportsman or woman or coach.
Tracksuit pants and trainers on almost anyone not participating in physical exercise - questionable!
Remember the shell suits at airports?
Trouble is, tracksuits are so comfortable, especially if you are having difficulty with your waistband after a period of over indulgence!
I'd be interested to know why a dress code was being introduced. Were there lots of scruffy staff? Had parents, governors or inspectors commented? Had staff been consulted or was it merely imposed by an autocratic headteacher? Or is there more to the story than we have been told?
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C_G 44, I went to a Quaker church. No uniform involved.
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No uniform was worn in the school I went to. They were all brand new.
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