Restrictive uniforms could be preventing primary school pupils, especially girls, from being physically active, research suggests.
In countries where most schools require students to wear uniforms, fewer young people reach the World Health Organization’s minimum recommendation of 60 minutes of physical activity a day across a whole week, according to a study by University of Cambridge.
There was a greater difference between girls and boys of primary-school age in countries where uniforms were common. The finding was not replicated among children of secondary-school age.
This may be because of the incidental exercise that younger children get throughout the school day, for example, through running, climbing and active play at break and lunchtimes.
The findings confirm earlier evidence that girls feel less comfortable participating in active play if they are wearing certain types of clothing such as skirts or dresses.
Dr Mairead Ryan, a researcher at the faculty of education and MRC epidemiology unit at Cambridge, said: “Schools often prefer to use uniforms for various reasons. We are not trying to suggest a blanket ban on them, but to present new evidence to support decision-making. School communities could consider design, and whether specific characteristics of a uniform might either encourage or restrict any opportunities for physical activity across the day.”
The study, which was published in the Journal of Sport and Health Science, drew on large-scale statistical evidence about the participation in physical activity of more than 1 million five- to-17-year-olds internationally, combined with newly collected data on how common school uniforms were in these countries.
The researchers said the results did not definitively prove that school uniforms limited children’s physical activity, but they noted that this had been indicated in previous, smaller studies, and that further research was needed to establish causation.
