Pupils should be allowed to ditch blazers and have far more say in what they wear to class, according to new guidelines.
Schools must recognise “pupil individuality and choice” and offer alternatives to ties and formal trousers, including “gender neutral uniforms”.
The new government guidance, published on Thursday by Jenny Gilruth, the SNP education secretary, says: “Schools should not include items such as blazers or other branded outerwear as a compulsory part of their uniform policy.
“Branded items of uniform and blazers should not be compulsory, nor promoted or encouraged by schools.”
However, opponents said that SNP ministers should instead address declining standards and rising violence in Scottish classrooms, as experts highlighted evidence that uniforms could improve behaviour and attainment.
Nine out of ten of Scotland’s best-performing state schools require pupils to wear blazers, which can cost up to £135. Head teachers have now been told blazers should be “an optional item” and that it must “be clear that these are not needed or expected”.
For transgender pupils, schools are encouraged to implement flexible and inclusive policies to prevent discrimination. The guidance says: “This approach should allow all young people to wear the school uniform they feel most comfortable in.”
Jenny Gilruth said that blazers should not be a compulsory part of school uniform
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Parents should also be allowed to buy cheaper blazers and sew, iron or pin on a badge rather than having to buy bespoke items from a specialist supplier, the guidance says.
Announcing the guidance during a visit to Camperdown primary school in Dundee, Gilruth said children should attend school feeling “comfortable, confident and ready to learn” and that the recommendations said head teachers were “expected to do all they can to limit school clothing costs for families”.
She said: “The guidance also encourages schools to develop flexible and inclusive policies which promote generic items of clothing, and do not include compulsory branded items, supporting our efforts to be more sustainable.”
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The new guidelines also call on schools to give “careful consideration” to required clothing that pupils may find “restrictive”, such as ties or formal trousers, because of fears that they do not “support pupils’ comfort and wellbeing.”
Liam Kerr, education spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said that uniforms could be “crucial” in fostering schools’ “identity and community spirit”. He said: “While it’s sensible for schools to follow guidance on making sure that uniform is affordable, the SNP government should not be attempting to dictate policy on blazers, badges or other school insignia.
“After the SNP’s serial failures on standards, the attainment gap and funding, many people will feel the education secretary has much more urgent priorities to be dealing with.”
Lindsay Paterson, a professor of education policy at the University of Edinburgh, told The Daily Telegraph that evidence suggested uniforms could improve behaviour, but he acknowledged that blazers were “unlikely to be affordable” for all families.
“Branded items can have an important role to play, provided the branding is affordable,” Paterson said. “But the new guidance fails to assert strongly the beneficial effects of uniform. Its otherwise worthy aims of inclusion and affordability lack the coherence that would arise from a strong policy of encouraging uniforms in all schools.”
