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During a Compass Education workshop in March 2024, my group and I were assigned with the task of using the Compass Education Toolkit; specifically the Sustaunability Compass tool, to holistically analyse a topic which affects teacher wellbeing. Using the four points of Nature, Economics, Society and Wellbeing, our group meandered through a variety of topics which were coming to mind: administrative responsibilities, student behaviour, school policies, paychecks, time consumption outside of school hours, digital screen dependence and so on. We used the opportunity to freely explore our ideas, without judgement and justification of our choices, and we made a host of interconnected links between the mass of topics we had collected after just ten minutes. Our next task was to select one specific concept we had written down and go deeper into analysing that concept using the Compass points. Gazing upon the large poster paper in front of us we landed on a tiny note – ‘teacher uniform’. “Shall we work on this point?” one of the group asked. At which point another member picked up his tie and said “I hate having to wear this thing”. Our focus would be a Compass analysis of teacher wellness affected by the enforced wearing of a tie, but really it was about the ‘teacher uniform’ – a formal work outfit mandated by schools across the world for teachers to wear.

We began our analysis and we quickly realised that the tie and the teacher uniform laid bare a complex and intricate set of anti-sustainability principles. Here is a brief summary of our thoughts laid out into inquiry questions connected to the Sustainability Compass tool:

Nature – how much material is being sourced to create an entirely separate set of clothes for teachers to wear? Where does that material come from? How much water is needed to process those raw materials into fabric? Where do the clothes go after we dispose of them? Are we contributing to excessive landfill, water use, and fast fashion unnecessarily? 

Economy – How much do teachers have to spend on their work wardrobes? Is this justified considering teachers’ low salaries? Can we build ethical and budget-friendly teacher wardrobes? Does the cost of the teacher uniform justify its use? How much wear and tear do these clothes receive compared to other professions who wear similar clothing? How much do the people who make these clothes get paid? Is the teacher’s wardrobe contributing to economic injustices? 

Society – Why have other professions moved towards casual dressing while teachers continue to dress in formal attire? Does this intransigence reflect what is happening, or not happening, in education? Are we truly encouraging individual identity formation in our students if we show them teachers who have to dress a certain way? How do people from cultures outside of the Global North express themselves with a very Western approach to teacher uniforms? What gender stereotypes are we encouraging through the use of strict teacher dress codes? Are formal teacher uniforms inherently sexist? Are teachers judged on how they look or by the quality of their teaching?

Wellbeing – Are teachers able to appropriately adjust their strict teacher uniform for different temperatures? What physical injuries can be a result of having to wear formal shoes on a daily basis? Do menstruators feel comfortable when menstruating in their teacher uniform? Are teacher uniforms appropriate for teachers who teach subjects that require movement, or for teachers who teach young children and must be working on different levels, including the floor? Does the teacher uniform accommodate those with other physical and psychological needs? Are teacher uniforms appropriate considering the range of life-saving responsibilities teachers may have: earthquakes, fires, violence, incidents of shooters on the Compass, first aid etc.? Is the stress of having to spend your salary on formal clothing worth the final outcome of these clothes? Are school policies on teacher clothing fair and equitable? Who decides on what these policies should be and how teachers get a fair say in them? 

As a group, we came up with these thoughts very quickly and it became a point of obvious contention for teachers, with some in the room sharing their own negative experiences with teacher uniforms. Using the Sustainability Compass tool to analyse the connection between teacher wellness and strict teacher uniform policies revealed a deeply rooted issue that goes beyond simply what teachers wear to work. It illuminated the interconnectedness between environmental sustainability, economic justice, societal norms, and individual well-being within the context of education. The discussion sparked by our analysis underscored the importance of questioning established norms and policies within educational institutions.