Evidence for Learning: School uniform

While none of the studies in this review examined the link between school uniform and student achievement, these studies do indicate that school uniform is related to other facets of school life. The Australian-based study by Norrish, Farringdon, Bulsara and Hands (2012) examined the effect of school uniform design on incidental physical activity among 10 year olds. A repeated measures crossover design was used to compare school recess and lunchtime physical activity over four weeks in 64 primary school children (median age of 10.48 years) when wearing winter uniform or sports uniform. Mixed-model analyses found that girls, but not boys, were significantly more active at recess (p=0.03), lunch (p=0.04) and overall (p=0.006) when wearing their sports uniform as opposed to their winter uniform. School uniform did not impact on boys’ physical activity levels. The results showed that girls took more steps during recess and lunch when wearing their sports uniform.

Another Australian-based study by Watson, Eliott and Mehta (2015) examined physical inactivity amongst 12- to 13-year-old schoolgirls and their barriers to being active during school breaks. Data were gathered from four focus groups (n=13) across two South Australian schools, where students highlighted restrictions to being active. The restrictive nature of uniforms for female students (skirts, dresses) was one of the barriers to physical activity cited by participants.