Student's views on a more formal post-16 dress code

Student's views on a more formal post-16 dress code

Introduction.
Year 12 students were recently given an assembly in which they were told that they would shortly receive a survey regarding their attitudes towards a more formal dress code. The words "scruffy" and "offensive" were used to describe the current state of dress, and the general implication was that the code would at some point be formalised. Students were also advised not to vote for the continuation of the current casual dress code. 
The survey itself contained a number of issues (discussed in the next section), which prompted the creation of a second survey to determine student's actual views on dress code. Having collated the results of this survey, I will now present them in the following report.

Why was a second survey necessary?
When the school's survey was sent out, the response from students was overwhelmingly negative, with various messages posted about it on social media. Some students have informed me that they used the comments box at the end of the survey to express their frustration with the survey's various issues, which are listed here:    

• Firstly, in the "suggestions" part of the survey, four dress code options were listed for students to choose between. However, there was no option to maintain the current dress code. This prevented a large number of students from making their desired response, encouraging tactical voting as people who wanted no change in the dress code opted for "A", the least objectionable alternative. This prevented the results of this question from being representative of such people's actual views. It was pointed out to me by one student that allowing for all possible responses is an essential aspect of any survey, and is actually taught to students in year 9 mathematics.  

• Secondly, the "reasons against" question has been described by various students as "incomprehensible",  with some saying that they were unable to understand what the question was asking them. The question, phrased as "which of the following do you feel the least significant reasons for not having a dress code," contained a double negative and also lacked the word "are", which made it extremely confusing to students. This has likely resulted in "donkey voting", in which answers are randomly selected due to confusion at the meaning of the question. Furthermore, some students have even suggested that the question was impossible to answer without supporting a change in the dress code and only arguments which supported a change were listed as options. The question was therefore biased and leading, and will not give an accurate representation of the true opinions of the student body.

• It was also felt that certain questions, including those relating to "Formal Friday", were irrelevant to the question of whether year 12 students want a change in the dress code and were designed to be used by management staff to support such a  change.  For example, if students answer the question "do you think the respect for students dressed for 'Formal Friday' by others is"  with "decreased", it may be implied that students who partake in "Formal Friday" are being bullied by other students (a complete untruth), which supports the suggestion that everyone should wear more formal attire. However, if students answer the question with "increased", it can be implied that wearing formal clothing will make post-16 students better role models for younger students as they hold more respect. This heightened the view among students that the questions in the survey were leading and designed to ensure superficial support for a change in the dress code.  

• Finally, several students in year 11 and year 10 have pointed out that they were not given the opportunity to complete the survey despite the fact that they will be affected by any changes to the post-16 dress code.  For this reason, even if the survey was completely fair and unbiased, it would not give a representation of the views of all the students who would be affected by a change in the post-16 dress code.       

For these reasons, many students felt that the survey was biased and unfair. Clearly, such a survey cannot provide management staff with an accurate representation of the opinions of the student body, making it useless in helping them to come to a decision on what, if any, changes should be made to the post-16 dress code. Therefore, in order for a fairer representation of student voice to be obtained, a second survey was necessary.

What did the second survey entail?

The need for a fairer and more accurate student voice system resulted in two emails being sent to all students in years 12 and 11, as these will be the year groups most immediately affected by any changes.

The first email briefly explained how the school's survey had not provided an option for "no change" to the dress code, and had not given year 11 students a say in the matter. The email provided a link to an Facebook page called "Defend 6th Form dress code", which students were invited to "like" if they felt that the dress code should not be changed. It was made clear in the email and on the page that liking the page entailed support for the opinion described.  This was designed to give some indication of the number of students who supported this view, as this could not possibly be determined through analysis of the results of the school survey.  Incidentally, the page also provided a forum for students to express their views on the dress code and the original survey, and supplied much of the material covered in this report.

The second email provided a link to a single-question survey. The question was "should the post-16 dress code be made more formal", a simple and unbiased question with a yes/no answer. Again, the survey was emailed to all year 12 and year 11 students rather than just students who had "liked" the Facebook page mentioned above in order to avoid bias. Students were also only allowed to answer the question once in order to make it a fair test. This survey was designed to give a more accurate representation of people's opinions regarding the dress code. 

Results of the second survey.

The Facebook page received widespread support from students, and currently possesses 271 "likes" just over two days after being set up. The majority of the support has come from year 12 students, which is understandable as year 11 students have not yet connected with the issue as much because they have not been given an assembly or the opportunity to complete the original survey.  However, 271 out of an approximate possible 450-500 students shows that the majority of students in years 12 and 11 (and a vast majority in year 12 alone) believe that the dress code should not be changed, which should be taken into account by management staff when making a decision on the matter.

With regards to the survey, 224 students have currently taken part. This is a relatively high figure considering that accessing the survey required following a link and entering the details of the student's email account, in addition to some students in year 11 not yet connecting with the issue. The results have been almost unanimously in favour of the answer "no" to the question "should the post-16 dress code be more formal"; 209 (93.3%) voted "no" while 15 (6.7%) voted "yes". This once again shows that the majority of students in years 12 and 11 are opposed to making the dress code more formal. The figures are also startling one-sided, which should be taken into account when making a decision on whether to change the dress code.  Clearly, most students would not support the formalisation of the dress code.

What were the reasons for these results?

While it would be easy to dismiss the views of the student body as reactionary, I was in fact presented with numerous intelligent arguments against a new dress code. I will briefly list some of them here for management to consider.

• The cost of purchasing new clothes will be high and unnecessary, especially for year 12 students who will need them for just one year. It is complacent to assume that all families will be able to afford such expense; several students have already confessed financial worries regarding changes to the dress code.
• To further this point, although it may be argued that these clothes will be necessary on a day-to-day basis for future careers, this is not true of all, or even the majority of occupations. Furthermore, students are likely to grow out of these clothes by the time they need them in the workplace (particularly year 11 students).
• A more formal dress code would suppress people from expressing individuality through their appearance.  The example given to me to support this was people who follow goth culture, but many other simply find uniform or formal attire bland, dull and tasteless. Considering the school's focus on "personal best", surely students should be able to achieve their personal best in a personal way, particularly those who have already proved themselves to be mature and sensible.
• Formal clothing (particularly suits) is often uncomfortable, particularly for growing adolescents. Furthermore, suits require professional washing, which is expensive, and may require more than one wash per week (meaning two suits would have to be bought per student).
• It is currently possible to wear formal clothing within the boundaries of the school dress code. Many students choose to do this, particularly on "Formal Friday". Therefore, formalising the dress code is unnecessary.
• One argument in favour of school uniform is that it removes any divide in appearance between wealthy and poorer students , which discourages bullying. However, as a member of the year 12 community, I have never seen nor heard of any such bullying over appearances. In a school where the vast majority of students are kind and caring towards one another, this argument may be discounted.
•  Management has suggested that a uniform would make post-16 students better role models for younger students. I will not mince my words here: this is quite simply preposterous.  Being a good student role model is achieved through a good attitude to learning and the attainment of excellent results, as well as caring for fellow students and involvements in the wider community. As shown by the school's superb exam results, post-16 students already have a good attitude to learning, which is reflected in classroom behaviour. With regards to caring for other students, as a year 12 student myself I can tell you that the year 12 community is hugely supportive towards one another and never anything but kind. Students also show support for the wider community through the iLeaders scheme and through volunteering. Therefore, post-16 students are already fantastic role models for the lower year groups, and it is both untrue and insulting to suggest that a formal dress code would make students good role models if they were not already.
• Finally, there is no proven correlation between a formal dress code or uniform and attainment of good results. Take, for example, the American schooling system; one of the most excellent in the world yet also famous for its lack of uniform. Furthermore, IGS already achieves great results and post-16 students already have a good attitude to learning. It should be remembered that every student in sixth form is there to learn, but this is being disrupted by the controversy surrounding the antagonising approach management have taken towards implementing a new dress code.  

Conclusions.

The study I have undertaken clearly shows that the vast majority of the student body feels that the post-16 dress code should remain unchanged. Although there are good arguments for formality, most of these become irrelevant in the context of sixth form students at IGS already being great role models with excellent attitudes to learning.

Based on the findings of this report,  I would suggest that management should think long and hard before choosing to antagonise a group of intelligent young people who have had no trouble in seeing through a biased assembly and a carefully fixed survey.