Thread: workshop dress code

I'd say "Question Authority" - if enough of your colleages feel that they're being unfairly treated, then give the bigwig a bit of measured 360 degree feedback, together:mad:


Or, wear a skirt that's shorter than the greay coat. Then it will be safe.:eek:

Originally Posted by silentC

She's got ya there Dave

Yep and Jackie has had my number for a while
You gotta respect that

Originally Posted by smmee2

I think that you must have got the response that you deserved. So have fun in another (thread)

HaHaHaHA, stick ya neck out any further an' it'll get taken kleen orf.

I'll pay that one.

Smmee2......C'mon....nothing wrong with the Bib & Brace. Lets you wear shorts or whatever underneath and a suitable T-Shirt. Who cares how you look during classes....you said it's an all girls school anyway.

We the neanderthals probably would care what you wear, and have probably already imagined such. But surely, wearing jeans only means your clothes get dirty and you have to change anyway. So go for the Bib & Brace.

smmee2, I'm going to attempt to be serious in amongst this mob of galahs.

If the big wig is having a go at a number of teachers about jeans, she's not interested in the woodwork side of it, it's the jeans. If you feel comfortable wearing jeans in the workshop, substitute them for slacks. If you feel you want something more rugged, try moleskins (R M Williams is a good place to start) - light in colour, they do make them for women and they are considered 'upper class'. But personally, I reckon if you just wear slacks for awhile, the fuss'll die down. The dust coat suggestion is a good one as it does make you look 'official'. And you can always rebell by having a pencil jammed behind one ear. It'd be a good move to have a look at the Occ Health and Safety regs too - you may just find that jeans are recommended or suggested in which case you've got this twit right where you want her.

If it was up to me I'd turn up in thongs and shorts (T shirt if it's cold) like most woodies ( I think?) do. Wear what you feel safe in. Personally I would wear the above before a dustcoat any day. How you look don't matter a toss if you can't handle the beast.

Time to fight these d1ckheads with facts, but this may require some investigating effort on your part. You need to prove that the jeans you wish to wear comply with Aust Standard 2919 - Industrial Clothing. This may mean contacting the manufacturer and get some detail regarding the materials weights and stitching types.

Generally speaking most denims are around the 195 grams per square metre (GSM) weight or heavier which for the electrical industry where I work is the minimum standard - ESAA Guideline NENS09. The rest of our clothing then conforms to the above standard AS2919. Using this comparison to your jeans, it can be expected that the materials and seams for your jeans would meet the tear strengths for the standard. The design of the jeans meets the design standard 2.1.1 Work Trousers as would the stitching and finishing. Unfortunately as the product is not labeled as industrial clothing this minor point would make it fail, but if you didn't mention this fact who would know.

Unfortunately I can't send you a PDF of the standard as attachments are limited to 100Kb. Send a PM and I will endeavour to send you a copy of the standard by fax - about 8 pages - the PDF we have has a plug-in which won't allow external use by other PDF viewers.

Originally Posted by DaveInOz

I'm comming up on my mid-life crisis, and I've been looking forward to it. Gonna trad the wife in on a new model,

NOOOOOOOOO Dont do it.. no matter HOW much money you THOUGHT you had in the bank!

Now as for the "dress code" issue, Seeing as it is a female teacher in a girls school, I think that the dust coat is the way to go.

If you happen to teach other subjects as well as wood work, dress according to the requirements of the subjects.

If you are only teaching wood work , dress for safety and comfort. if that means jeans under your dust coat .. so be it.

my 2c worth

Smmee2,
I was going to suggest that you and your fellow jean wearing colleagues band together, but on second thoughts this may hurt your career prospects. Given that you're teaching man arts I think jeans are perfectly acceptable. I've yet to see anyone wearing anything of a more refined nature in a joinery shop. You could always tell the powers that be that you'll happily wear your finery as long as the school is willing to replace it when it gets damaged or prematurely worn due to your work conditions. Horses for courses, someone teaching home economics might well dress as a chef, mathematics or english as an academic, science as a lab dweller, and man arts as a joiner or boiler maker. If some of what you are teaching is Voc Ed related or leading to school based apprenticeships then this will add weight to your arguement.
I've supervised multi million dollar boat fitouts and wore khaki king gee shorts and blue chambray shirts with steel cap boots. I wore these same clothes when meeting with the owners, bankers, lawyers etc etc. I wouldn't have looked any more professional wearing a suit and tie, if anything I believe I would've looked less so. You could try moleskins or khaki or canvas "jeans" but of course at the moment it's probably near impossible to find jeans that don't look like they've been washed in a cement mixer with a shovel full of blue metal.

Mick the sartorially splendid.

In my experience female man arts teachers are as rare as hens teeth and are a very valuable commodity. When I first started teaching at my current school man arts was almost exclusively a boy thing. It has taken a little while but now the numbers run about 50/50. I think that they are very fortunate to have you at all.

A manual arts building is a work shop. I teach VET man arts and I insist that the students treat the time in the building as if they were in a commercial operation. The standard of dress is then what is appropriate in a commercial operation. Proffesional dress is a relative and what you want to wear is entirely appropriate and hence proffessional. If you become dissatisfied or harrassed to any great degree over this issue you may want to consider moving to happier pastures as I am sure many schools would welcome you.