The moment the subject of dress codes for teachers was muted the Unions and fellow travellers outrage was anticipated . Pride and care in ones appearance should be taken for granted in any walk of life. Sloppy dress , sloppy minds,sloppy attitudes .

peter french, ash, uk

Teachers should wear smart battledress. It's war in so many classrooms these days.

Karen Ways, London,

Does dressing smart make you a good teacher? If you're a rubbish teacher anyway, then having a smart suit is only make you look like a bigger idiot, less able to demand 'respect'. Isn't it really the teacher's personality and classroom management as well as teaching skils that matter??

Tom, London,

Dressing appropriately is in teachers' own interest and must make their job of establishing respect in the classroom easier. Trying to be 'one of the boys' (or girls) never works and leads to children having contempt for their teacher.

Adrian Gilbert, Tonbridge,

I'm a physics teacher and I dress like a merchant banker. Needless to say, I don't get paid like one. Keep annoying me and I'll turn up for work looking like I'm at Woodstock. I so much want to believe in the 'new' Tory party but they keep exposing themselves as limited little office boys.

Eric Skelton, Cardiff, Wales

I work in an office and the simple fact is that if I turn up in a suit I automatically get treated with respect by my workers. If I turn up in Jeans and a T-shirt the behavior is completely different.

Teachers should dress professionally and so should the children.

joe, Edinburgh, Scotland

I would have thought that teachers with their academic qualifications and superior education wouldn't have needed a dress code. If they do, then it strikes me that the blind could well be leading the blind whereby it is a question of who is blinder.
Quote 'EXEMPLO DUCEMUS'
Taff, Hamburg

Taff, Hamburg, Germany

The British education system is such a joke;One-size-fits-all system till you're 16
Subject matter is completely useless to 90% of people. "square of the hypotomus equals..."
Teacher's can't teach in a suit? what about students trying to learn in blazers in midsummer,high-holiday, gormless whiners

tom, lancs,

What a load of rubbisIh! I teach in an inner city comp. All staff are dressed professionally and look very smart. How can you ask a students to smarten their uniform and not look smart yourself? Most teacher are not into double standards and our parents would agree.

Rachel, Plymouth,

Josephine - I am shocked too!. I work in a very challenging school on the South coast and i have yet to see a young male teacher in leathers or jeans. Instead its a all sensible men in boring suits and ties. I am obviously working in the wrong school!

Diz, Chichester,

I was schooled in the UK and many of my teachers wore a suit and tie, though teachers were also able to wear "casual" clothes, I don't recall any wearing jeans, trainers or leather!

Surely it is in the teacher's own interests to look "respectable" anyway? Let them use their own common sense!

Brijit , Paris, France

Long overdue. ALL ,without any exceptions, school pupils should HAVE to wera a full uniform with caps etc nad discipline brought nack into school. Mobile phones should be banned. Are the tories actually going to do what should have been done 10 years ago ?.

Steve, London, UK

In fifty-odd years, I have never been cheated, robbed, or threatened by anyone wearing a hoodie or baseball cap.

Sadly, I can't say the same thing about suits, peaked caps, or quasi-military uniforms.

As a rule of thumb, I'd say that the smarter the suit, the bigger the crook inside it.

Tim Bartlett, Upwell, UK

I worry about Tory fixation on school dress codes. I know a highly intelligent, very mature for his age A Level student who'd be picked on at every turn in a regime like this e.g hair, untidy clothes. Fortunately he's at an F E college, out of reach of Cameroonie sergeant-majors! So far!

Humphrey Reader, Weston-super-Mare, UK

Every business knows that sloppiness in dress turns into sloppiness everywhere else. It's an excellent idea.

Roger, Ipswich,

Teachers should certainly wear smart, not scruffy, clothes. But one item of supposed 'smart' clothing for men should be thrown out - the tie (& not just for teachers). All the ties in the country should be collected together and burnt. The day will go down in song and legend.

Dave, Wrexham,

Are the Tories proposing to pay teachers any extra to provide a budget for new dress requirements?

Rob, Wimbledon,

What an excellent proposal. I'm sick of seeing teachers competing with pupils to look as if they were teenagers. Grow up.

J. Holland, London, England

I am regularly seeing David Cameron cavorting around without a tie he should understand he is the leader of the Tory Party not some advertising agency executive. He is a setting a disgraceful example and that includes other members of his so called
"Notting Hill Set" as well.

tari, London,

I am a teacher. Female teachers at my school have to wear skirts and are only allowed to wear trousers if they are smart and worn with a suit jacket. I find this rule absolutely ridiculous as a lot of skirts (and teachers wearing them) are far scruffier and frumpier than trousers!

Helen , London, UK

As usual everyone who hasn't been near a school in 20 years has an opinion because they went to school or drop their children out the front everyday . Biker jackets, jeans ???? Not in any of the differing schools or offices I have ever worked in ! Get real ! I'll wear a gown when we get air con!

Rosie, Worcester, England

Wow, way to focus on the totally trivial.

Hannah, Leamington, UK

I say, super. Lets bring back the cane, slate and chalk and while at it bring back the 11+ and oh goodie that means bringing back under funded secondary schools like the one where I went to, freezing cold, leaky roof and no O levels. Bring back Keith Joseph!!!!!

kevin brooks, London, UK

For people like C Keates, here's the test: you're in court facing a serious charge and jail time if convicted, and your brief turns up as if dressed from a rubbish skip, with personal grooming to match. Your reaction: a soaring feeling of identification with the underclass lifting your spirits ?

Leonard Colquhoun, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia

"Out will go jeans and trainers, untucked baggy shirts, crop tops and biker leathers. " Well that 'll affect about two teachers living in a 70s or 80s timewarp in Old Blighty. God bless the snotty nosed tories - nothing changes - public school boys rah rah rah! Loved the comment from Finn!

Julie Ann, Georgetown, Caribbean

Is that it? At last we have a concrete Tory policy and it's to do with something that in my experience doesn't exist. Maybe sometime before the next election we might have an idea about economic policy or the Tory position on Europe. then again, maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part.

A Thomas, Lanchester,

If teachers claim to be professionals then they should act and dress as such. Simple.

Edwin, Bucharest,

Why are the teaching unions so thick? All they do is whinge, grumble and obstruct.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

We need a happy medium. Asking a woodwork teacher to wear a suit is impractical, for example. Teachers are professionals - let them take initiative. My business teacher always wore a suite - it reflected his profession, while the science teacher rolled up his tieless shirt while experimenting.

Chris, Southampton,

Finally - we see sense - I started my first teaching job in 2004 in a supposedly beacon school and wore my best suits every day, but soon realised that the rest of the staff were not of the same accord. Most dressed awfully, sometimes with no suits, or ties, it is time to set an example!

Richard, Walsall, UK

Typical Tories, focus on appearances. I might have slightly more belief in their abilities to run the country had they ever said anything constructive about the actual teaching that gets done. But no, let's blind the electorate with the trivial detail, they don't need anything of substance...

Sophie, Liverpool,

The Tories are spot on. Could we also have a ban on Teachers kicking their shoes off and tucking their feet underneath them on the chair as if they are at home watching TV? Oh yes...and a ban on Teachers using mobile phones in class and during lessons to make appointments to get their nails done?

judy, Liverpool, England

The concept of "dressing like a professional" is part of what leads to the disconect between the generations, among other things.

I'm very pleased that I work in a skilled, high-tech IT industry where jeans and a t-shirt is considered entirely acceptable attire.

Leon Wolfeson, Oxford, UK

Oh dear, oh dear! Surely results and the ability to teach matters more than what they wear?

The Tories bleat on and on about dictats from Whitehall but they still feel the need to suggest what teachers wear! I can see the direction we are headed with a Conservative government.

Martin Caldwell, London, United Kingdom

As a serving teacher in a Scottish Secondary Comprehensive School, I agree totally with a dress code for staff. My pupils often ask why teachers don't have a uniform as they do. Bring back the gown (mortar-board optional, please!), with academic hoods for special occasions.

C.B.Ross , Motherwell, Lanarkshire

If teachers want respect then they must show respect, and that means dressing "properly", not like some hobo. Many teachers I know do dress appropriately, that is in jacket and slacks, with a tie. But, some teachers like to ne "trendy" and feel they are "in".

Dr Jonathan, Cambridge, UK

A good move. Teachers should smarten up and ALL children should wear uniform. Let's bring discipline back to the school system.

Hamad Lone, London, England

Thank goodness! I am a teacher, and always wear a shirt and tie, suit trousers, smart shoes (shined) and ensure I look professional. Appearances are important. I look forward to this initiative.

Sussex Teacher, Brighton,

I'm a teacher at the moment and I've never seen any member at staff at all of the schools I have worked in wearing leather and crop tops! We live in England -we haven't the weather for it!

And the only time I've ever seen jeans if when it is a 'mufti' aka non uniform day!

Lizzie, Somerset / Bolton, UK

I work in a challenging school and I've hardly seen any denim, studs or leather.
I turn up everyday wearing a dress shirt and black trousers, when I get into my classroom i put my tie and jacket on.
Teachers need to be sensible. Yet the kids here get away with wearing almost anything. Pupils first

Geography Teacher, Norwich, England

I have seen teachers in sweat shirts, and jeans - it does not set a good example to the pupils. Teachers need to be respected, and have an area of authority in order to ensure discipline - they are not meant to be friends, or mates to the pupils.

Disillusioned, Birmingham,

I saw the the start of the scruffy teachers in jeans and plimsolls in the seventies, it came with all the lassez faire stuff. Schools have deteriorated in discipline ever since, no discipline how can you make the children learn?
Holland has more parental discipline to compensate.

Redandover60, Hayes, Middlesex, England

Robert in Hull,

If teachers did a proper job with their pupils, maybe they'd be entitled to be paid a higher wage.

Alex, London,

My school has a dress code for teachers that's stricter than the one for students, as evidenced by the fact that I'm in our library in a cocktail dress (as a student btw).
But we're also a Grammar School, so are they going to back us or close us? The lower school have to wear blazers, point to us?

Rachel Titley, Halifax, West Yorkshire

What's wrong with a neat t-shirt and jeans? And how does someone not wearing a 3-piece suit suddenly become a bad teacher? At my son's old school all teachers were neatly dressed, but they were awful teachers. At my son's new school they're a bit less formal, but at least they can teach.

M.R., Stockport,

Chris Keates is "outraged" at the suggestion that someone in a profession should look and act as though they are? Get some real issues. I expect teachers to set an example (just as I set an example to those I manage), that example includes appearance.

s williams, manchester, uk

Lets extend it to include language and behaviour for anyone on the BBC who may be considered a role model.

John, Lincoln,

What complete nonsense - most countries do not impose dress codes on either pupils or teachers and provide much better education than the UK system does today or ever did. Teachers and government need to focus on the actual teaching rather than out of date, hierarchical uniform rules.

Finn, London,

Well Robert of Hull, I find it difficult to agree that teachers are no longer paid well - but even if it were true, I don't believe they are so poorly paid that they can't afford to dress neatly. All this bleating about wanting to be treated like a professional should mean dressing like one.

Peter, Leeds, UK

I have never seen my teachers wear jeans or t-shirts, and my school isn't exactly Eton.

Where are these jeans and t-shirt wearing teachers? I've never seen any.

Rosalie, Chichester, Blighty

The Tories are making the same mistake as Labour saying: we politicians can run schools from London and tell them what to do. What the Tories should do is to give parents a proper choice of school and then, like magic, the teachers will be better dressed as they are now in the independent schools.

George , Bolton, England

As an English teacher in Holland with a girlfriend who is a primary school teacher I can tell you that I have never met a student (adult or child) who has so much as blinked when either of us have taught in jeans. Both of us tend to focus on actually teaching...

Nick, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Like Josephine, I'm also shocked that a teacher should go to school in a cropped top or scruffy jeans. I do some private tutoring and it would never occur to me to teach in any scruffy clothes. What about mutual respect? Children don't chew gum in my class, I don't show them my navel. Simple.

Tina, Dusseldorf, Germany

About time, but this must apply to female and males alike. Scruffy children can then be brought into line.

William, London, UK

every report,review and opinion I.ve read in the last 5/7 years or so has shown that when i went to school late1940.s to early 60's the standards that were accepted then seemed to be the ones being advocated now. Girls only schools, Uniforms appropriate dress for Teachers.What about elocution too

Hugh Dickinson, Huonville, Tasmania. Australia

Teachers already have professional dress. Gowns and mortar boards.

Malcolm McLean, Bradford, UK

If a teacher is getting good results then they are doing a good job. A line must be drawn somewhere on dress code, but generally teachers dress fine. Let's not take our eye of the ball - results matter! Some like leather; some don't.

Des, Edinburgh,

I am a teacher and always wear 'office wear' at work. I am appalled by some, normally more senior female members of teaching staff wearing t-shirts and jean like trousers.

sue, waterlooville, hants

If teachers were paid sufficiently well, then they would all be able to look like Boris KJohnson.

Robert, Hull, Englsnd

I am shocked - I had no idea that teachers wore denim, leather and studs. Of course there should be a dress code, just as there is for the pupils.

Josephine, Bournemouth,