Job Discussion Forums

[jojo_rock]

What I wear usually depends on the type of student I am teaching. I'd never wear anything too casual for first time classes, but by the end of the year I end up wearing jeans and t-shirts just like the students. When I go into state schools to teach teenagers I never wear jeans, even though most of the school teachers do, I don't want to look like a student. When I teach the 5 year olds I try not to be too casual either, but not too smart... one always tries to blow their nose on you.

[delacosta]

Short sleave shirt, dress(ish) shorts and sandals. I work at a place called University of the Sea, in a little town called Puerto Angel ( Port of Angels).
And um, there is a job opportunity right about now...

[cimarch]

Whatever I want. It varies depending on the time of year but I usually dress fairly casually, it helps the students relax and relate more easily.

One place I used to do part-time work for made all the full-timers wear black suits. Unfortunately they used chalk boards and only issued one suit each. They looked horrendous by lunchtime and often couldn't clean their suit for days.

[Otterman Ollie]

Hi

I can't really relate to the people who think that looking like a student is going to make a more relaxed atmosphere in the classroom .
In my experience the vast majority of students expect you to look the part regardless of their age or the instuition you work in .The first time you meet them is the most important time to create the impression you want to maintain,two weeks into the term is too late ,start as you mean to go on .

[Ludwig]

Well, 'Ollie', my son, it seems that the vast majority of universities around the world - including such stellar institutions as MIT, Oxford, and Cambridge - do not share your (rather strange) opinion.

[Otterman Ollie]

Well Ludwig ,me old china lets assumme for a nano second you are right and that these esteemed establishments think its cool for a professor to wander around looking like a refugee,do you think that most parents who pay a not insignificant sum for their offsprings educational development would wonder what is happening to standards ?
If the teacher7instructor/professor has a cavalier approach to his appearance what will his/her teaching be like .
Just because its the norm in some places don't make it right .

[Boy Wonder]

All teachers should wear dark grey Austin Reed suits and Debretts Of London highly polished black brogues.
Wherever they teach...whatever they teach!

Sling those untidy 'casually dressed' liberals out of the classroom and don't allow them back until they come to work dressed for business.

If they want to dress for lounging on a sofa watching TV..then that's where they should stay!

I have worn a suit for work for 7 years(not the same one) and expect the same of all my students.
And anybody who calls me a Clothes Fascist will be whipped with my Nazi regulation issued leather glove.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[moonraven]

What, Ben Round, people would think you were making a travesty of Raquel Welch--or Sophia Loren--or Ursula Andress? Probably your audience is too young to have heard of them, anyway. Not to worry....

[nomadic]

[guest of Japan]

In high schools both in the US and in Japan I've found that classes tend to go better for teachers who look the part. I think it's a combination of what students perceive as being cool combined and the attire expected of a person in an authoritarian position. A teacher wearing a cheap, frayed and baggy suit will be unlikely to gain their social respect, just as a teacher wearing a hawaiian shirt will have difficulty in being seen as an authoritarian figure.

Universities are a different ballgame.

[4nic8r]

I agree with Guest of Japan on this one...

The better you dress, they are more likely to respect you rather than someone who dresses lke a slob.. I had a Uni prof who wore sandals, hawaiian shirts pretty much unbuttoned and never combed his hair.. a real classy guy

As for me, I own about 19 suits.. so I pretty much wear one everyday.. except once in awhile its casual...

[kev7161]

My school just gave me two, long-sleeved, white shirts by "Polo" (well, the Chinese knock-off at least). They have not said we must wear these shirts, but you see all these teachers walking around in their white shirts and dark trousers, so my guess is they are hoping we will wear the same sort of outfits as well. Sadly, my shirts are a bit too small . . . and I really could have used some nice dress shirts! I'm slowly losing weight though, so maybe in the spring.

Anyway, I have plenty of dress slacks and dress shirts and sweaters and what-not that I brought from home. I'll always be a well-dressed man while teaching classes, but I'll still retain my own identity and not become one of the drones here.

[Ludwig]

[Otterman Ollie]

Comeon people all this horse trading between Mr cool dude who teachs and the fashion victim who doesn't know how. Is there any one whos gonna say; is it too much to expect a real teacher who looks the part as well?
I'm chessed off with working with people who smell as bad as they dress and just because they have a preconcieved wrong idea about their appearance everyone else who wants to do a professional job is considered an anal jerk . Did it ever register to these people that they are alleged ambassadors of their country,the industry they work in, as well as the foreign teaching community of their chosen guest location,we are ALL judged by them ,most of the time we set a piss poor example where dress is concerned .
Just because the greatest tutors that ever lived dressed like a homeless bum do we have to emulate them ?