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In some municipalities in Aargau there has recently been a negative entry in the interim report for young people who do not appear to be dressed appropriately for class. This is a kind of interim report, but it does not contain grades but written evaluations. SP councilor Lelia Hunziker recently criticized this practice in a column in AZ. She finds it difficult for schools to assess “whether students are dressed appropriately (read decently) or not.” Because those in charge of training companies look at interim reports very carefully when selecting applications, she says.
Hunziker also criticizes the fact that the dress codes, which were communicated to parents in a letter at the beginning of the school year, mainly refer to girls. He points out two passages: “Students wear appropriate clothing at school; buttocks, bust and stomach are covered. “To protect everyone involved, the school attaches great importance to this passage so that unpleasant situations do not arise due to naked body areas.
In the information for parents from another municipality of Aargau it says: “Gym and training pants belong to physical education, shoulders must be covered, pants or skirts have a decent length, shorts must not be worn in the classroom, the navel is not visible. “
Lelia Hunziker sees problems with the questions of what exactly is considered appropriate clothing and who should judge this at school. “When is the skirt long enough to be decent, when is it indecently short? Is it necessary to cover the belly button in normal conditions or only when I stretch? Are flip flops suitable? Is it inappropriate to be barefoot? ”, Enumera.
Teacher: “I don’t remember the bad reviews”
In a reader comment on aargauerzeitung.ch, Christoph Waldmeier, a crafts teacher at the Buchs-Aarau district school and the EPP residents council in Aarau, replied: “Appropriate refers mainly to the fact that the areas mentioned they are really covered and that children’s underwear does not look out. ” According to Waldmeier, teachers have been doing such evaluations for almost ten years. “It’s just about being decent in the training company,” he says. Compliance with the dress code is discussed in teams, which is certainly sensible. Waldmeier continues: “I don’t remember scoring that badly.”
Anyone who comes to class multiple times in a crop top and shorts or in training pants and a baseball cap gets a poor grade on the interim report.
© Urs Flüeler / Keystone
In fact, the new dress code comes from the Aarau-Buchs district school, the largest school in the canton; AZ has the corresponding parent letter. It says: In order to assess social and personal skills, a new indicator is recorded in the interim report under the heading “appears appropriately for teaching”: “is dressed appropriately for the classroom.” The school district’s school leadership also writes: “Repeated ignorance of this subarea leads to a deduction in the assessment of self-competence.” That means in plain language: Anyone who appears multiple times in a crop top and shorts or with training pants and a baseball cap to class will get a bad grade on the interim report.
District school principal: “Broad-based dress code”
Such a requirement, suitable clothing for lessons, is not found in the implementation aid of the education department to assess personal competence. However, it also says: “School teams define the indicators themselves after mutual agreement.” Remi Bürgi, managing director of the Aarau-Buchs district school, stated at the request of AZ: “Creating a dress code is the responsibility of the school.” The specifications were reformulated by the teaching staff of the Zelgli Aarau District School for the 2018/19 school year. The parent team and the school parliament asked to clarify individual items. After consulting with everyone involved, the rules were adapted for this school year.
Bürgi emphasizes that the Zelgli Aarau district school dress code is endorsed by the students, parents, the school administration and the teaching staff. In 2018, a survey was conducted among parents and students on the current school regulations at that time. According to the final report, which is available on the Aarau-Buchs district school website, the dress code was the point students were least satisfied with.
According to the report, parents and students seem to find the exact definition of “appropriate” to cause difficulties, especially when it comes to implementing it in daily school life. Parents, in particular, would have liked a more detailed and accurate description, “while students value individuality more when choosing clothes.”
Teachers evaluate clothes
Bürgi emphasizes that no negative comments have been received about the new dress code. But who decides if students dress appropriately and if there is a deduction in the interim report for violations? “The assessment of performance in subjects, as well as personal and social skills, is the main task of teachers,” says Bürgi. The school inspection department of education participated in the handling of the evaluation.
Bürgi goes on to say that there is no deduction for soft skills in the interim report after a single offense. “First the teachers look for a conversation with the fallible student, then there is a warning slip, finally the parents are informed and only in the case of repetition is social competence deduced.” So far, violations of the dress code at school have been sanctioned with these measures, the only novelty is the deduction option in the intermediate report, says the manager. Also, this option is only available for seventh grade because the new curriculum already applies to them. A social skills deduction is not yet possible for older high school students.
But why did the dress code have to be adjusted with the provision that there is a deduction in the interim report for violations? In the last years of school at the Aarau-Buchs district school, have you had frequent problems with young people who, for example, came to class in training pants or short blouses? “There are no figures on this,” Bürgi responds.
