I am going to be a GTA on a art history course this term, and frankly, my wardrobe and scruffy hair aren't going to cut it. I don't feel confident turning up to a seminar in front of c20 well turned out art history students (of the type that populate my university). I figure I'll get a smart haircut and sort out some casual modern knitwear.... I know I should be confident to just turn up in jeans and a t-shirt - but I know that these 19 year olds just won't really take me seriously. I'm lanky and gaunt so look scruffy pretty easily - and I'm becomign aware that I may need to sculpt my image a bit more of teaching success, or at least to get through the session with dignity! :$

What do you folks wear to teach?

I'm probably not the best person to give advice, but I wear a hoodie, pair of old jeans, either a t-shirt or some random top and a pair of old trainers. I do medical stuff and statistics for first and second years though, so I don't suppose you need to be too trendy. I suppose with art history students things may be different. In fact, a mate of mine graduated in art history at Man Met a couple of a few years ago and he said that all the students spent a considerable amount of time in the pubs - along with some of the lecturers! So dress could be important...?

I wear suits or something smart/casual e.g. suit pants, shirt and jumper. I'd never wear jeans/casual wear, but then it depends on the culture of your department.

I think, particularly if you're young looking, formal the attire is required in any situation to gain respect.

Thanks for your replies.

Yes, on a bad day I can be asked for ID in a supermarket for a bottle of wine, and in jeans and a t-shirt I don't look 25 - I think I need to go formal to get some kind of respect.

Yeah, the students I will be teaching always look effortlessly stylish. I won't be socialising with them, but I'm starting to think that a personal makeover would probably improve my performance in networking anyway. I may as well get practice in for when I go into the post PhD workforce...eek.

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It might be an idea to look at what other staff on that course wear to teach and adapt your own wardrobe along those lines, so that you look like 'one of them'. The haircut is probably a good idea if it's as scruffy as you say.

I usually try to be slightly smarter than usual when teaching, as that's what the rest of them wear. Still prefer denim (skirts) but replace the t-shirts with proper shirts, avoid scruffy shoes and add a jacket or shaped cardigan. And a bit of makeup. I feel weird if I'm too formally dressed, but try to look interesting and stylish. As Missspacey said, it depends on what works for your department.

When I started teaching, I learned in a course aimed at improving our teaching skills that you can always relax after a strict first impression, but you cannot (or, it is hard to) straighten up after a relaxed first impression. So the advice was, be formal for the first few weeks and then take it from there. I was teaching Sociology where too stylish can actually be counterproductive, but still I followed that advice and it worked out well. After about half a term I started relaxing my appearance but it was important to establish at the beginning that I'm the teacher, not one of them.

We were also told to introduce ourselves as Ms. X rather than by first names, in order to establish authority. I did that and relaxed on it later on, but by the end of the year some students were still calling me Ms. X while others were addressing me by first name, so that sort of created some confusion.

Good luck with the teaching!

If I remember correctly you are at the same uni as me in the north. I was a GTA for art history last semester and the last thing I was worried about was what I was wearing - I was more concerned that I didn't know anything about the subject as I was previously in the English department! Which course are you teaching? One of my friends is teaching an art history course for the first time this semester at the same uni and she wears hippy-style clothes. You need to wear something that you feel comfortable in and won't detract from what you are there for. If you are happy in jeans and a t-shirt, just adapt that a bit and maybe wear some casual but a bit smarter trousers with a smarter top. To be honest I don't think the students will really be that bothered. You are the teaching assistant and they will respect your authority - I was quite suprprised how much they listened to my every word and expected me to know everything and be the expert (I think I managed to fool most of them!). Good luck with it anyway. I'm teaching Medieval English this semester but back to art history next year so if you want any other advice let me know through the forum or send a private e-mail. Hey, I just remembered I was asking for advice on teaching last year as I was terrified but I got through it, actually enjoyed it and now feel confident to offer advice to others - it's the whole learning process of a PhD.

Thanks for the replies.

Def. want to make a strict and slick first impression. I think it is the only way I won't appear as just another student to them. After a few weeks I think I can be more informal. I mean, I fully plan to bake cookies for the last 2 hour session before Christmas when people present their oral presentations. But I don't want them thinking I am a cookie baking sloppy softy in the first week! I want them to do the readings becasue my wrath would be not incurring!! I also think adopting a formal teaching persona will help my deal with (what I find a stressful) situation! heh


Thanks for the teaching advice pamw - I think I'll PM you later for teaching tips. I'm a GTA on the 'Afterlife of Objects' course.

I had one friend who dressed very informally, gave them loads of leeway with missed deadlines, got added as a facebook friend by all her students, and that person had loads of grief with their students stretching the limits on what they could get away with, or not submitting work at all. Another friend would wear a suit and tie when teaching, and was pretty firm. And it worked.

I tried to find some middle ground - my clothing was pretty smart (shirt and smart trousers, may be smart jeans), but I found that being firm (we all know the student excuses!) but fair with respect to the rest of the relationship, and keeping the atmosphere quite informal once in the session helped as much, if not more. I hope it fostered some mutual respect, got them to do the work, and resulted in a free and open discussion once in the session.

I suppose the moral of the story is that professionalism and respect (which of course leads to a very fruitful student-teacher relationship!) relies on appearance, but a whole lot more too.

I always try to dress a bit more 'professional' on the days that I'm teaching - nothing too hectic, I wouldn't go as far as a suit but maybe trousers instead of jeans or a shirt instead of t-shirt. A lot of other lecturers here dress REALLY casual but they are usually older... I feel like because I am younger I need to dress up a bit to differentiate myself from the students. Also sometimes I teach adults at night and as they are all older than me I feel like I might not be taken seriously if I waltz in wearing a hoodie! I could just be paranoid though...

Noticed this between my teaching times; when i wore jeans/t shirts etc - students got extra friendly with me and treated me like one of their cronies.... this new academic year i have decided to dress formally.... no suits though, just the formal knitwear, shirts, no jeans... Last semester i heard some students whispering to each other, 'look, she is so informally dressed, check out her flip -flops!". I had a hard time trying to manage that particular group and i think it was partly down to the way i showed up looking extremely informal and my easy going attitude. I dont know how this formal wear will go down this time around with new students... i hope it does the trick.

Although I make no particular effort to distinguish myself from the students (a good lot of them are actually quite a bit older than me), I haven't had any problems so far. They know that they really need to pay attention if they want to do well in their assignments and exams (which I stress to them) and if they miss what I say I make no attempt to repeat myself. It was quite funny last year. They actually sent me their assignments and pally e-mails saying, "please can you tell me if this looks ok?" and "what such and such statistical test would you recommend?". I told them to go an whistle in the nicest way possible. Other than that I've had no problems from students with how I dress. I may wear a suit one day before (if!) my PhD finishes - it might make me feel super professional and it'll have a certain novelty value.

Overeducated, I don't think you will have a problem with authority if you just make sure they know you are the one in control of things from the get-go. I have never had problems like that from my students, although one did try to add me as a 'friend' on facebook - which I declined! But what often happens is if somebody walks into the room during a class (because mine are normally in computer labs) I say 'Do you mind, there's a class on in here!' and they look at me in disbelief - sometimes even stand there for a minute - before they finally believe that I am actually the lecturer and then they walk out in a huff :-)

There certainly won't be any befriending of students on facebook! :p

I've found comments here useful and interesting. I'll def make an effort this term. First impressions and all...:$

Overeducated: I always get id-ed, and I've been mistaken for being under 16 in the recent past (I'm 25). Also, in my first year of teaching, I was sitting in on lectures, and the students would try to do the freshers-getting-to-know-each-other small talk: so difficult to stop them before they say anything embarrassing and let them know I was going to be their tutor! Generally, I don't worry about it too much now, because this i my third year of teaching, and I always make sure to introduce myself as the class tutor.

Knitwear all the way! I've lost weight recently (stress-busting gym sessions...) so my trousers are baggy, but my modern casual knitwear is still in the game!