School uniforms which a majority of middle and high school students are supposed to wear currently are the most important and familiar clothes. Therefore, the satisfaction with uniforms is considered to have an important effect on leading a life in sc...
School uniforms which a majority of middle and high school students are supposed to wear currently are the most important and familiar clothes. Therefore, the satisfaction with uniforms is considered to have an important effect on leading a life in school in that they spend much time wearing the uniforms. However, previous studies related to school uniforms have shown that the satisfaction with their uniforms was low.
The introduction of part liberalization of dress code is considered to be one way to improve dissatisfaction with school uniforms and is expected to overcome the disadvantage of standardization.
The aim of this study is to provide schools and uniform industry with useful information about the improvement and choice of uniforms by carrying out research on how satisfied students are with their uniforms, based on difference on sex and the level of schools(middle and high) and on how differently teachers and students recognize the part liberalization of school uniforms.
The subject of this survey was 760 students and 194 teachers who were from middle school and high schools in Daegu. and was conducted in May of 2009. Statistic data analysis program of SPSS was used in order to analyze the date including frequency analysis, t-test, Cronbaha’s .
The results are as follows:
First, As for the satisfaction with each uniform item, 2.74% of middle school students and 2.96% of high school students were not satisfied with all items. Male students were more dissatisfied than female students. Among uniform items, winter jacket was the most unsatisfactory item and blouse and shirts for winter was the most satisfactory one.
The level of satisfaction with wearing the uniforms was divided into 'aesthetic aspect' 'economical aspect' 'maintenance aspect', which were all below the average. Without doubt, there should be improvement of it.
Second, when it comes to the items of uniforms, most students had one of jacket and skirt(or pants) and more than one blouse and shirt. As asked when they wore the uniforms, 50.5% of the respondents said they wore only in school and 44.7% of them said they wore both at school and at institutions. From the category of sex and school level(middle or high), more female students and high school students belonged to the group which goes to school and institution in the uniforms, which seems to be meaningful difference. In the question of asking whether they have altered uniforms, those who said 'No'(53.4%) was more than those said 'Yes'(46.6%). More girls experienced alteration than boys, and it was because they were not happy with the design and size.
Third, as for preference for image, the students indicated preference for modern image and the teachers preferred 'neat image'
Fourth, in the question concerning part liberalization, 78.9% of the students and 41.2% of the teachers were for it. As the reason to go against it, the teachers responded that the part liberalization can distinguish between the poor and the rich. On the contrary, the students expressed that it requires them to think which clothes to wear. So, a conclusion can be made that there were significant difference on the reason against it. The reasons for being for it were 'comfortable to act' and 'enough to reflect the personality', which did not show difference between teachers and students.
Fifth, free item to choose in the part liberalization of school uniform was in the oder of 'shirt' and 'tie' without any difference between the teachers and students. As for the item which should be given unity, both the teachers and students chose 'jacket' and when it comes to range of unity, the students selected 'design' and the teachers selected 'color' so there was meaningful difference between them.
It seems that students think that the design of the uniforms do not appeal to the sense of the youth and is uncomfortable when studying. Thus, through the part liberalization of dress code, students can wear uniform which enables them to avoid standardization and gives them satisfaction as well as self-control in the aspect of design and function. It is thought that teachers showed more concern about the possibility that the part liberalization of dress code can give another burden on students but students expressed preference for it because they think that they can have a relative freedom and autonomy under the rule of it and wanted to express themselves at the same time. It is necessary for schools to study various approaches with flexibility toward the development of school uniforms and how to wear them.
This study was done sampling schools in Daegu randomly. Therefore, careful considerations should be given before generalizing it.