The True Impact of Uniforms

Uniform prices remain to be an additional cost for parents, many of whom are already struggling under the current cost-of-living crisis. In the hope of gaining greater insight into how these uniform prices impact a child's experience at school, we spoke to Emily, a secondary school teacher, who offered a firsthand account as to how this additional pressure can cause tension for parents, students and schools.

Have you seen the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis on pupils at your school?

Yes, definitely. When a student comes in in the wrong uniform repeatedly, we look into it, and a lot of the time now it’s because their parents can’t afford uniform. Uniforms are expensive, you don’t realise how expensive they are! A lot of students wear hand-me-downs, and a lot of them aren’t what we expect, because they got hand-me-downs that are tattered. But their parents literally cannot afford to get a new set. When the school knows the reason, we can offer to buy the student a uniform, but obviously school budgets are stretched currently too.

What kind of impact do you think this has on students?

Sometimes other students make comments, and you can tell that this really affects them, because they know that they don’t have everything their peers have. We limit non-uniform days to avoid showing the class divide between students so much, but it does also show in day-to-day uniform.

How do you think free uniform provision would impact parents if it was available?

It would relieve a lot of tension. Schools have to follow a uniform policy, we want everyone to have the same uniform to avoid any bullying due to class differences. If uniform was provided, it would relieve the tension of parents having to find uniform when they can’t afford it. It would also relieve the tension between us and the parents, as they can sometimes get angry at the uniform policy. It’s probably not because of the policy itself, but rather frustration because they can’t afford the new uniform. So, the provision of uniform would mean parents had a far better relationship with the school.

Do you think this provision would impact students?

One hundred percent. If a student repeatedly wears the wrong uniform, they can be isolated or given a detention. If they have the full uniform, there are no external factors or things they can’t control stopping them from having the right uniform. They won’t get a detention because of how much money they have at home.