Are school uniforms a bad idea? That's what a new study suggests

Wearing a school uniform is part of many children's primary and secondary school experience. But does requiring them to wear one affect a student's behaviour and performance?

A new study suggests a concerning reason students probably should not wear uniforms any more.

Its findings show that despite popular belief, requiring students to wear school uniforms did not seem to affect their behaviour or attendance. Instead, it may be negatively impacting their sense of belonging in school.

The lead author of the US national study was Arya Ansari, assistant professor of human sciences at Ohio State University.

He conducted it with Michael Shepard, a graduate student in human sciences at the same university, and Michael Gottfried, associate professor of education at the University of Pennsylvania.

With the rising popularity of school uniforms not just in private schools in the US but also in public ones, Ansari and his team thought about the purpose of requiring students to wear them.

"There hasn't been much research done on the value of school uniforms in the past 20 years or so, especially given how much their use has increased," said Ansari.

It has been argued before that uniforms promote better attendance and a stronger sense of community. This then is believed to result in less bullying and fighting among students.

To further look into this, the study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. This followed a US representative sample of 6,320 students from kindergarten through to the end of fifth grade.

Aside from reporting how often each student was absent, teachers also rated each student every academic year on the following three dimensions: Internalising behaviour problems (eg anxiety and social withdrawal); externalising behaviour problems (eg aggression or destruction of property); and social skills.

The findings showed that school uniforms did not affect these three dimensions of behaviour in any grade. Researchers said this was even after considering other factors that could potentially affect a student's behaviour.

Low-income students in schools that wear uniforms have slightly better attendance. Still, this difference only amounted to less than one day per year.

That they have no effect on children's behaviour isn't the only reason students should not wear uniforms. Students who did attend school in a uniform reported having lower levels of "school belonging" than those in school without uniforms.

Self-report measures from the same students when they were in their fifth grade were also evaluated. They reported on how close they are to their teachers and peers. Students also opened up about their experiences of bullying and social anxiety .

While school uniforms were not linked to any differences in bullying or social anxiety in children, those who had to wear them felt less sense of belonging in their school than students who attended school without uniforms.

Researchers said the study can't explain this finding just yet but there are some possible reasons this might be so.

"While uniforms are supposed to build a sense of community, they may have the opposite effect," Ansari said.

"Fashion is one way that students express themselves, and that may be an important part of the school experience. When students can't show their individuality, they may not feel like they belong as much."

With these findings, parents, teachers and administrators are advised by researchers against assuming that school uniforms have positive effects that may not exist.

"School uniforms may not be the most effective way to improve student behaviour and engagement," added Ansari.

This article was first published in theAsianparent.