Is it true that wearing a school uniform improves student performance?

Every year, around September 1, debates break out on the Internet about the need for school uniforms, with supporters of wearing them citing, among other things, the following argument: it supposedly promotes higher academic performance. We decided to check if this is true.

Statementthat wearing a uniform in schools has a positive effect on students' grades is popular on websites specialized clothing stores. They write about the benefits of a dress code in educational institutions and the media - for example, “Teacher's newspaper" And "Notebook" Notes about this can be found at school And educational portals, as well as on resources for parents. In some articles even exact figures are indicated - supposedly the introduction of compulsory clothing increases academic performance by 60% (in other sources - by 20%); however, references to specific studies that showed such results are not provided.

Although in many countries discussions about whether it is necessary to introduce compulsory wearing of a school uniform are ongoing, there are not many high-quality studies on the impact of such a dress code on the educational process. By data The British charitable organization Education Endowment Foundation (it seeks to improve the level of education among children from the country's poor), at the moment there is no convincing evidence that the introduction of school uniforms has any effect on student performance. Those studies that do provide evidence in favor of uniforms were conducted on a limited number of students and cannot be considered representative, the organization notes.

In 2022, Ohio State University scientists studied data from a national longitudinal study in which a representative sample of 6,320 children were followed from kindergarten through 5th grade. Some of them attended educational institutions with mandatory wearing of uniforms, some without. Researchers were unable to confirm any significant effect of school uniforms on student performance.

According to research, conducted at the University of Otago (New Zealand) in 2021, there was not enough convincing evidence in the existing scientific literature to confirm the positive impact of school uniforms on academic performance. However, the studies they reviewed provided evidence that poorly thought-out decisions in this area negatively impact some students psychologically—particularly girls, as well as students from low-income backgrounds and religious or ethnic minorities. By opinion experts, constant stress negatively affects a child’s grades. 

Scientists from the University of Sydney (Australia) in a 2016 publication presented the results of his research on how classroom discipline affects academic performance and how, in turn, school uniforms affect discipline. The researchers turned to the database Programs International Student Assessment (PISA), administered by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Based on PISA data, the researchers compared the performance of countries with and without school uniforms on five discipline criteria: whether students listen to the teacher, whether the teacher has to wait for them to calm down, whether classes start on time, what is the noise level in the classroom and whether students are engaged in the learning process. The study's authors concluded that according to the first two of these criteria, students who wear uniforms behave better, and the children who are most successful in mastering the program demonstrate a high level of discipline. “The results confirm that, overall, the introduction of school uniforms in schools can improve discipline and promote better learning,” the scientists conclude, noting that maintaining order and the right atmosphere during lessons primarily depends on teachers, and dress code is only one of the factors that can encourage more responsible behavior. 

The PISA program collects data not only on the organization of the educational process in different countries, but also on the performance of children - every few years, 15-year-old schoolchildren around the world are asked to take an identical test, the results of which make it possible to compare the success of their studies. The most recent results presented on the OECD website are for 2018. They show that in the top three among the countries participating in the organization (and in the top ten in the overall ranking) - Estonia, Canada And Finland. Wearing a school uniform in these countries is not mandatory and is not widespread, which did not prevent them from overtaking, for example, the UK, where the dress code in schools, although not enshrined in law, is nevertheless strictly enforced. recommended Ministry of Education and is widely distributed (according to data company - the manufacturer of Trutex school uniforms, they are required in 79% of primary and 98% of secondary schools).

PISA tests have been administered since 2000, and national school uniform regulations have not changed in the vast majority of participating countries. One of the few exceptions is Türkiye, where compulsory school uniforms were introduced in 2012 under public pressure. canceled. PISA test results among Turkish students in 2009 were 464, 445, and 454 in reading, math, and science, respectively. IN year of cancellation forms, the same indicators were slightly higher - 475, 448 and 463 points. IN 2018, after another six years, the results of Turkish teenagers in reading, mathematics and science were 466, 454 and 468 points. As can be seen, there was no serious drop in academic performance due to the abolition of compulsory school uniforms; When compared with the results of 2009, student scores improved in all three indicators, compared with the results of 2012 - in two. 

In some articles about the benefits of a dress code among schoolchildren, teachers claim an increase in academic performance and improved discipline in classes after the introduction of a uniform uniform. Such statements, made solely on the basis of one's own observations, can be a cognitive trap. In 2010, Wesley Scott Johnson, a scientist from East Carolina University (USA), published study, which compared surveys of administrators at 38 schools that had recently introduced uniforms with data on incidents of violence and suspensions for bad behavior at those schools. School officials claimed that the introduction of school uniforms had increased discipline and academic performance in schools, when in fact, according to state Department of Education reports, there had been no reduction in incidents of violence or suspensions. This scientific work is not directly devoted to the connection between school uniforms and grades, but it does show how deceptive personal observations of teachers can be, not supported by statistics. 

Thus, at the moment there is no convincing evidence that the introduction of school uniforms actually leads to any significant improvement in student achievement. There are not many qualitative studies based on representative data on this topic. A significant number of experts studying this issue agree that wearing a uniform does not play a significant role in the process of learning and assimilation of material by schoolchildren, although there are those who still see some positive impact. 

Cover photo: Monkey Business Images via Canva

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