TABLE 2.

Uniform’s positive, neutral, and negative impacts on education and health outcomes.

Domain	Positive impact	Neutral impact	Negative impact
Educational outcome	Improves classroom management; faster settling to task; reduced distractions	No clear impact on academic achievement	Detracts/distracts from teacher–student rapport; Reduces creativity in population; An extra barrier to socialisation for newcomers/minorities
Health outcomes: Physical	Insecticide-treated uniform can provide protection against dengue; Well-designed uniform can protect skin from sun damage; Health and safety can be enhanced in uniform design		Poor uniform policy a barrier to incidental and curriculum based exercise; Poor uniform design a barrier for incidental exercise, especially for girls; Sun protection not considered in policy or garment design; Physical comfort/health not prioritised in design; Health and safety can be misapplied to ban certain non-uniform items
Health outcomes: Psychosocial	Unisex and inclusive design can increase girls’ and overweight students’ confidence to participate in sport; Self-esteem promoted (if student can afford full and correct uniform); Removes competitive dressing pressure; Decreases bullying		Non-inclusive design can reduce girls’ and overweight students’ confidence to participate in sport; Bullying and social exclusion for following uniform rules; Inflexible uniform policy harmful for gender-diverse students