workshop dress code

[smmee2]

I am a female Wood Tech teacher and I am currently being harassed by one of the big wigs for wearing denium in the workshop when I have practical lessons. It has been suggested that I wear King Gee overalls to work to teach in. I think that they are less professional than jeans. I was wondering if there is any one out there that who could suggest what I might be able to do because for safety reasons I cant wear a dress or skirt in the workshop?

[Barry_White]

When I went to school which was a long time ago all the Tech teachers wore dust coats over their normal clothes. But what does he mean Bib and Brace overalls or Combination overall as in a boiler suit.

I think in this day and age denim is quite appropriate as long as it reaches safety requirements.

Probably not in your best interests but why not tell him to get a life.

I did that once to the General Manager of Lysaghts and earned myself a demotion.

[DanP]

Jeans??? Professional :confused:

What about drill press shirts and pants, IMO, the most professonal looking work wear, whilst being practical, you can get.

Dan

[smmee2]

I have tried the drill pants and shirts in the past and they are all designed to fit males and they make me look too butch. not a professional enough for the school i work in. thanks though.

[bitingmidge]

Jeans??? Professional :confused:

What about drill press shirts and pants, IMO, the most professonal looking work wear, whilst being practical, you can get.

Dan

....and here was I thinking professionals wore expensive Italian suits and silk ties!!

:D :D :D

...but I do think denim is a bit "last year"!

Why not go the whole hippy-art-chick thing with the bib overalls and top of your choice??

P (who spends his professional life behind a desk wearing shorts and bare feet). :rolleyes:

[Barry_White]

I have tried the drill pants and shirts in the past and they are all designed to fit males and they make me look too butch. not a professional enough for the school i work in. thanks though.
I dont think overalls are for the professional appearance and if you think drill pants and shirts make you look butch wait till you get into a set of combinations or bib and brace.

Why not a nice white dust coat or at the worst a set of white combinations.

All that to please some bigwig that wouldn't know anway.

[ubeaut]

Most wear a grey dust coat. I suspect they are regulation, government school issue. There should be no reason why a skirt or dress would be out of place, under one of these. I take it that jeans are not classed as acceptable dress in your school so it would probably be more prudent to wear slacks under a dust coat. Don't do the overalls thing, definitely no fashion statement to be made and you have trouble looking wise and getting respect when dressed in one of those clown suits. :eek:

However you could always buy a set of white overalls, dye them bright pink and sew brightly coloured flowers and hippy slogans all over, might look pretty terrible but I bet they would change their tune about the jeans pretty quick.

Go the dust coat. They are practical, look very professional and the kids will show you more respect. Read respect as: won't be laughing at you and your clown suit behind your back.

Cheers - Neil :)

[Barry_White]

Well said oh humble leader.

[ubeaut]

White dust coat? No:eek: Grey dust coat? Yes:cool: White isn't a practical colour for a work shop, save thet one for thew science lab.

Cheers - Neil

PS I gotta be more quick with my replies. When I started the above there were none. Gotta stop answering the phone and concentrate on more important things like posting replies. :D

[ubeaut]

http://www.ubeaut.com.au/homer1.gif Doh!! Did it to me again.

[Barry_White]

You might notice I said professional but nothing about practical. Of course grey or karki is more practical but she wanted to look professional. With horn rimmed spectacles of course.

[Barry_White]

Well enough of this, I'm off to the shed to do some woodwork in my professional clobber of thongs, stubbies and navy Bonds singlet to chop off a couple of fingers and toes.

[Zed]

its getting hot, I wear me kingies (shorts) no shirt unless machining and thongs... I'm a paragon of saftey I am......

SMee2 - you probably would have to wear a shirt of some form....

[Termite]

I love working in shorts and thongs in summer, a combination of sweat, and a hairy chest that would make Zed jealous, added to shavings and sawdust makes for a very interesting look. Something SWMBO describes as a "Giant fat-gutted sweaty termite" :D

[Iain]

A female teacher with a hairy sweaty chest, actually while I was in the Public Service there were a few of them :eek:

[jackiew]

I wear bib and brace overalls when I'm doing anything messy but they are all made to fit men ... i.e. to get them big enough in the bum you end up with overalls that are too big everywhere else ... you have to cut the legs down and shorten the shoulder straps.

yakka do a range of women's workwear which unbelievably goes up to a size 22 ( there seems to be some odd view from the manufacturers of specialist clothing that women over about size 16 don't exist e.g. cycle/motorcycle gear)

http://www.yakka.com.au/ww/ww_range.asp?rngAt=ww&depAt=ww

[smmee2]

i definately have to wear a shirt thanks

[smmee2]

thanks i will look up that site thanks jackiew

[Termite]

to get them big enough in the bum you end up with overalls that are too big everywhere else ... you have to cut the legs down and shorten the shoulder straps.
Hmmm.... so my calculations come out:- big bum, no t1ts, short legs and I hope to God a good sense of humour :D :D :D

[smmee2]

opposite of what you are thinking.
You are very funny!

[gold leader]

Just curious..... Which school? My SWMBO just landed her first job as a geography teacher at Waverley College, and she's fresh out of uni.
A female woodwork teacher? Wow, how cool......

[smmee2]

sorry dont want to tell as the bigwig might find out and then i could be in even more trouble than what I already am. But it is not that school.
I am a female teacher teaching Wood in an all girls School. Watch out boys

[outback]

AHHHM shouldn't you be teaching girls to woodwork, and not finding out about dress codes from a bunch of blokes, who struggle to dress themselves?

[Barry_White]

Looks like the younger generation is in for some competition to see who uses the shed. Whatever happened to embroidery and cross stitching and most important cooking and washing.


From an old dog for a hard road.

[Barry_White]

Hmmm.... so my calculations come out:- big bum, no t1ts, short legs and I hope to God a good sense of humour :D :D :DIthink he was writing to jackiew.

[jackiew]

Hmmm.... so my calculations come out:- big bum, no t1ts, short legs and I hope to God a good sense of humour :D :D :D

perfect figure in other words - btw you missed a mean right hook and a long memory :D :D

[smmee2]

we teach the boys those topics now!

[DaveInOz]

WHOA - TIME OUT

You're teaching woodwork to the general female population ! :eek:

That is not on. We love our exceptional lady woodworkers but teaching females indescriminatly is not on.

Don't you realise that these women may get married.
Having a wife with even basic woodwork skills would severly cramp my beer-drinking / bullsh!t-talking shed time.
If SWMBO knew what productivity should be .. I'd be shot.

Anyone know the ramp up time for a really obscure but potentially productive hobby.

:D :D :D :D

BTW dust coat is the go for classes, just don't keep your lollies in the pocket or people will get suss.

[AlexS]

When will these tin gods stop worrying about workshop dress codes and start doing what they're paid for, which is educate the kids. Things haven't changed since my school days, when the headmaster used to preside over a disfunctional school (despite the efforts of a few good teachers) while periodically conducting purges on those wearing crew cuts, black socks (?) fluoro socks (OK, I can understand that), ball games in the playground (it was a boys school, George) and rugby league (I do wish you boys would take up chess instead).

One of my few entertaining times at school was when I was outside the head's office when the new woodwork teacher turned up - wearing his crew cut & black socks, and proceded to tell the head that rugby league was his sport of choice.

If you're reading this, Mr. Cleary, you were a good woodwork teacher, despite the crew cut.

[Wood Borer]

Smee2,

I think it is great the girls are learning woodwork. Is it compulsory or optional and how many years do they do?

Our son had to choose either woodwork or metalwork but whatever the choice, it was for 6 months only. He chose metalwork so he went through 13 years of Primary and Secondary school without ever doing woodwork – very sad and pathetic.

Our daughter on the other hand went to an all girls state school and did a whole year of woodwork. We still use the recycle box she made.

When she was living at home and going to university, she would often go into my shed with her friends when we were on holidays. They didn’t do any woodwork but they all enjoyed the atmosphere and the smell of the timber. It still makes me feel good that the magic of woodwork rubbed off to her. I am sure her woodwork at school also helped.

Now she is keen for us to buy her and her partner some woodwork tools for Christmas.

I am not sure what clothes she will be wearing when they do their woodwork though.

[jackiew]

at the tafe last night spoke to a lady who i'm guessing won't be seeing 35 again, and the same went for most of the people on her course.

She said that soon after the course commenced she had to use a drill - everyone else stopped what they were doing to watch her to see if she knew what she was doing.

Which is pretty sad really as drilling a hole in a piece of wood requires less skill than making a dress, following a complicated knitting pattern or whipping up a dinner for 6 - none of which would have attracted an audience.

DaveInOz is right to an extent - There is a problem with girls adding traditionally male skills to their repertoires in that you can then be perceived as being a bit of a threat ... lets face it if you can do the job as well as or better than he can then you won't be inclined to admire their wonderful achievement in fixing the bookshelf to the wall approximately horizontal and almost capable of holding a single paperback book before gravity wins.

i.e. for a female the better your non-traditional skill set the fewer potential partners you have. One hopes that this will change with the new generation being used to seeing women in a wider spread of roles.

[Termite]

Well a lot of the blokes on this forum wouldn't realise that a lot of the planes trucks guns and ammo for the second world war were made by women, and as for turning off partners, having good manual skills is no turn off for me. Go for it girl.(pardon the politicaly incorrect "girl") :D

[echnidna]

This topic raises an interesting question.
What did the previous woodwork teacher wear?

[smmee2]

we start them in the workshop in year 7 with 13 weeks on 1 project and then again in year 8 for another 13 weeks. They love it

[smmee2]

shirt. tie, jeans or dress pants
a little sexist isn't it?

[craigb]

shirt. tie, jeans or dress pants
a little sexist isn't it?

Very.

I take it that this a non Government school?

[HappyHammer]

A tie in a workshop, very practical, when I worked on mainframes many years ago we weren't allowed to wear ties as the printers had a habit of chewing them up and trying to take you with them.

BTW. Go with the grey dust coat.

[DaveInOz]

DaveInOz is right

'Corse I am. I'm a bloke. :D
All this trouble started when we gave'm the bloody vote, now they want equality, next they'll be thinking they're people!

If you start giving these girls book learn'n an all, next they will belive that they can think for themsleves, and where will that lead, eh!
When I want a woman with an opinion I'll give her one.

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, but if all the new models are ejucated whats a bloke to do! You've ruined 'em.
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :D :D :D :D

I'd love to be able to work in the shed with my wife, but it isn't her thing.

[johnmc]

about the last thing you want to wear doing woodwork is a tie. Imagine the consequences of getting it caught in rotating machinery.

[jackiew]

shirt. tie, jeans or dress pants
a little sexist isn't it?

assuming the previous teacher was a he i'd say its a lot sexist. You could try directly asking the big wig in question whether they had requested that the previous teacher wear different clothing. If the answer is NO - then they are opening themselves up to a charge of discrimination. If the answer is YES - then you have to ask yourself why the previous teacher ignored the request. I'm betting the answer is NO.

hopefully the tie wasn't worn when operating any kind of machinery :eek:

[craigb]

Ah but if you were wearing your woodwork apron it wouldn't be an issue. ;)

[smmee2]

BTW. Go with the grey dust coat.[/QUOTE]I have a grey dust coat and wear it most lessons it is what I wear underneath that is causing the problem.

[HappyHammer]

Give me this blokes name and I'll have a word in his shell like:D

My guess is he's acting on feedback from one of your colleagues in the teachers lounge who can't wear jeans and is jealous, have a quick canvass around the teachers and ask their opinion...subtly

HH.

[smmee2]

Our Big wig is a female and there are a lot of "young staff" who have been spoken to about wearing jeans. And they are not happy because we have been able to wear them all year and it is only now a problem.

[Termite]

about the last thing you want to wear doing woodwork is a tie. Imagine the consequences of getting it caught in rotating machinery.
Yes, you'd very likely get rotated. :D

[Wood Borer]

There is a fine line between sticking up for yourself and enhancing your promotional opportunities or long term employment.

Proving you have been discriminatated against is rather difficult if the reasons given for your lack of promotion appear to an outsider to be reasonable even though you and everyone else knows the real reason.

Who these days would publicly state the reasons for lack of promotion being on the basis of gender, race, sexuality, someone who sticks up for themselves or others etc? I think they are the reasons in many cases but these are not the officially stated reasons so it is only the idiots who get caught out and you probably wouldn't want to work for them anyway.

[HappyHammer]

We have a casual dress policy where I work which is smart casual Mon-Fri and Jeans but no t-shirts on a Friday. The jeans however need to be presentable ie no gaping holes, patches, crutches that brush the floor, maybe some of the jean wearers are more extreme than others and it them that are causing the change in policy...

HH.

[jackiew]

I think I am lucky to be sat here wearing tracky-daks that probably weren't fashionable when I bought them 5 years ago or so and a t-shirt that has been through the wash so many times it is not really t-shirt shaped any more. And I'm by no means the worst dressed.

where a senior member of staff is being unreasonable then the only "safe" way of dealing with it is presenting a united front. I'm aware of people who've been close to nervous breakdown because of a bullying staff member.

an alternative approach might be to discuss with your students what they believe are appropriate clothes - you may find that the girls in your classes ( who are probably wearing uniforms rather than their own choice of clothes very reluctantly) will be supportive of your choice.

If there is no written down dress code for teachers perhaps you could go on the offensive and suggest that one be developed in discussion with girls and their parents ( but only if your initial spadework suggests that the end result will go in your favour ).

[Wood Borer]

The students at your school are very fortunate not only to have a woodwork teacher but school management that spends time on considering whether a teacher wears jeans or not.

The jeans to most people seem to be a trivial matter and if your management spends time on this topic, they must spend heaps of time on the important topics. ;)

[Sturdee]

With such conflicting advice may be a poll is needed. :p

How about you posting a few photos where you model various outfits and we vote which is the best. :D :D :D


Peter.

[Barry_White]

With such conflicting advice may be a poll is needed. :p

How about you posting a few photos where you model various outfits and we vote which is the best. :D :D :D


Peter.
What a good idea Peter.

[barnsey]

I can't believe dress code is such an issue for teachers in a school :confused:

If they won't allow jeans then surely a cotton drill or gaberdine is acceptable and the top could only be a problem if you are hanging out of it or it's see through - not a difficult decision. My wife - a psychologist - works in a school one day every week and common sense prevails - even with a short skirt :D

BTW it's great to see woodwork being taught and that girls are doing it, not sure my macho nature agrees but hey the more the merrier :rolleyes:

[gold leader]

this is Gold Leaders future wife aka swmbo

i am a teacher (well pretty much)-and i got roused on earlier this year over dress code where i was working so i know what you mean (had to wear a "ladies shoe with a heel"-apparently leather lace-up practical colorados don't cut it).
I would say given you are a specialist teacher to get in touch with the NSW teachers union OHAS section-and ask if they could recommend an "appropriate" uniform for the dangerous job you do -like going into a high school classroom packed with hormonal teenagers wasn't dangerous enough!

I can see their point about jeans, but i would argue on safety grounds that you need specialist equipment-and overalls do not meet this description due to personal comfort and safety-ie they are too hot to wear in summer and you don't want heat exhaustion.

[echnidna]

An alternative to overalls and dustcoats are traditional woodworkers aprons.
This could facilitate comfortable clothing plus the essential protective workwear.

But shouldn't all the students also have suitable protective clothing.
Can the school afford aprons, overalls etc for each student??

[goodwoody]

As a registered manual arts teacher in Qld I choose to wear Blue jeans , Steel capped Blundstones and a King gee shirt most days. In the workshop environment I wear a blue lab coat to stay as clean as possible. The number one priority in my shop is safety, for students and teachers. Teachers are not permitted in my shop unless they have the correct footwear on.
I have had no problems with senior staff regarding my dress code as not becoming of a teacher. Most of the time your covered in dust, fumes, glue.... even in the lab coat. I think it is trivial. If the techer involved is performing unsatisfactorily then by all means chastise him/her. Just my 43 cents worth.

[craigb]

What is it that they deem to be acceptable?

[smmee2]

But shouldn't all the students also have suitable protective clothing.
Can the school afford aprons, overalls etc for each student??
The students have aprons to wear during practical lessons and we have a few dust coats that the studnets can wear if they need too.

[DaveInOz]

No bites, :confused: not even a nibble :(
Perhaps the bait was too obvious :confused:
Oh well I'm off to a better fishing hole (thread), someone, somewhere, needs the p1ss taken out of them. ;)

[smmee2]

No bites, :confused: not even a nibble :(
Perhaps the bait was too obvious :confused:
someone, somewhere, needs the p1ss taken out of them. ;)
I think that you must have got the response that you deserved. So have fun in another (thread)

[silentC]

She's got ya there Dave ;)

[Ben from Vic.]

We had Conan the Librarian. ;) :eek:

How bout taking some fasion ques from those reno rescue type shows?

They often manage the feminin Steve Irwin look. ;) :D :p

[TassieKiwi]

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: :o

[DaveInOz]

She's got ya there Dave ;)


Yep :D and Jackie has had my number for a while :rolleyes:
You gotta respect that :)

[outback]

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.

[Honest Gaza]

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.

[Daddles]

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.

[ribot]

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.

[Markw]

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.

[Kev Y.]

<snip on>

<snip off>
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, <snip on>
<snip off>



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

[Kev Y.]

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

[journeyman Mick]

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.

[chook]

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.