Sacré bleu[1]! France introduces school uniforms

<strong>Sacré bleu<a href=”#_ftn1″ name=”_ftnref1″>[1]</a>! France introduces school uniforms</strong>

As a languages teacher and Francophile, I follow current affairs in France very closely, and I am fascinated by Emmanuel Macron, who has a very different style to the other French Presidents I have studied. One can certainly draw similarities between Macron’s determination to face down trades unions in the recent wave of industrial disputes in France and the approach of Margaret Thatcher in the early 1980s. Interestingly, if less importantly, I have been following the debate about whether school uniforms should be introduced to French schools, and a <a href=”https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44368368″>BBC article</a> on the subject this week caught my eye. Why are French schools suddenly interested in this Anglo-Saxon tradition and is there any evidence that wearing a school uniform affects academic achievement?

Conservatives and Labour politicians alike are convinced that uniforms help to create a culture of high standards. Michael Gove’s Education White Paper, which brought us new GCSEs and A Levels, urged all secondary schools to introduce blazers and ties, and virtually all of the many new Academies created during the past decade have chosen to have a uniform. A classic argument for uniform is that it helps to create a level playing field between pupils of different social and economic backgrounds. Wealthy pupils cannot come to school wearing designer gear, leaving those without the latest Nike trainers to become subject to bullying. For me, it’s more about the symbolism of a uniform and what it says about the expectations of a school. I taught in two French schools much earlier in my career where I felt that the lack of uniform created an informality that wasn’t appropriate to a learning environment. For me, there is something about a boy putting on his uniform each morning that symbolises that leisure is over, and that it’s time for work.

Nevertheless, the evidence of uniform having a positive effect on pupils’ results is inconsistent. A brief literature review using research largely from the United States shows a correlation between schools with uniforms and those with higher pupil grades. However, this doesn’t necessarily prove causation: it may be that parents who particularly value education are more likely to choose a school with a uniform, and that their positive attitudes to study lead to better outcomes for their children.

I will monitor with interest whether the current interest in uniforms persists over the English Channel. However, my mind is not for changing. I love the LGS grey suits worn by all boys from Years 6-11 and am grateful to my predecessors who decided that boys should wear a proper suit (which can be re-used for family weddings!) rather than a blazer with a badge. It makes our youngest boys feel grown-up and ready for the serious business of secondary education; boys wearing such a suit are coming to school to learn. As you will be aware, a year ago we liberalised slightly the Sixth Form uniform with boys choosing their own dark suit, giving them a little individuality. I have been delighted that the boys continue to look so business-like. The suits in Years 12 and 13 might not be ‘uniform’, but the boys are certainly very smart. I am a firm believer that if you have high standards of dress, hair, punctuality and manners, you will also have high expectations of yourself in your study habits. I will hope that you will therefore understand that, at LGS, we will occasionally need to be strict with your sons in insisting on these basics – they really do matter.

<a href=”#_ftnref1″ name=”_ftn1″>[1]</a> <em>As a French teacher, I would like to point out that nobody says ‘sacré bleu’ in France or has done for the last 50 years. Agatha Christie was fond of giving the phrase to detective Hercule Poirot, which explains why the British know the saying. It is the equivalent of ‘golly gosh’ – a minced oath where, just as ‘gosh’ prevents blasphemy, the word ‘bleu’ replaces ‘dieu’, the word for God.</em>

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