School uniforms are ‘strongly’ encouraged in Department for Education guidance (DfE, 2026b). Formal blazer-and-tie style uniform policies are widely implemented across English secondary schools. However, research shows no consistent advantages of school uniforms for academic achievement, attendance, behaviour or belonging (Hattie, 2017; Reidy, 2021; Ansari et al, 2022). Emerging policy analyses critique uniform as a non-inclusive mechanism of power, control and discrimination (Cumming-Potvin, 2023; Friedrich & Shanks, 2023). International research suggests that students can experience uniform policies as oppressive, particularly female-identifying students who can feel more visible and subject to moral regulation (Raby, 2010; Wolfe, 2024). Building on existing literature, this study explores female-identifying students’ experiences and evaluations of blazer-and-tie policies in England from an Educational Psychology perspective.
This qualitative study addressed this topic through semi-structured, participant-led, online interviews with 7 female-identifying secondary school students in England. Interview data was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022), within a critical realist framework. The analysis was informed by Foucauldian concepts of disciplinary power and surveillance, alongside an intersectional feminist lens attending to gender, age and student status.
Two research questions explored participants’ experiences and evaluations of blazer-and-tie uniform policies. Four themes were constructed: (i) The Fight to be Comfortable in School: ‘I couldn’t even concentrate’; (ii) Gendered and Sexualised Regulation: ‘They want to forget that we’re girls’; (iii) Embodied Surveillance and Discipline: ‘You’re constantly worrying’; and (iv) Hidden Curriculum of Success: ‘You’re kept in this box’.
Findings suggest that participants did not reject uniform completely but challenged rigid approaches and designs. They positioned comfort, self-confidence and self-expression as central to their wellbeing, engagement and learning. They reimagined uniform policies as more flexible and practical, without fear of surveillance and regulation based on adult constructions of femininity, modesty and success. Considerations for schools, Educational Psychologists and future researchers are presented.
