This edited volume brings together a new materialist approach to understanding the various legacies and controls being exercised through school uniforms. Through examining school uniform policies, the editors and their authors highlight the embodied choices that contribute to a socio-materialist understanding of democracy and social justice. Uniform policy plays a distinct role in setting the culture of compulsory school education and as such it constitutes a set of under-theorised school practices. This work thus brings together critical perspectives from education, sociology, cultural and postcolonial studies within an overarching analysis of how uniform imposes performances that have a formative effect on young peoples identities and economic positionality.

Rachel Shanks is Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Aberdeen, UK. She has been researching school uniform since 2019 and is particularly interested in how it can be made affordable, comfortable, rights-respecting and sustainable. This research includes school clothing grant in Scotland and school uniform banks. She leads interdisciplinary courses on sustainability and teaches research methods, in particular qualitative data analysis using software.

Julie Ovington is a Lecturer and Programme Leader at the University of the West of Scotland in the School of Education and Social Sciences. This work follows on from a career in family support within communities and in Nursery and Infant schools. Julie completed her doctorate at Northumbria University in 2019. Her thesis explored the affect of school readiness in the classroom based on the lived experiences of two-year-old children. The study drew on a range of theories and philosophies including materialism and posthumanism. She continues to research in early education and what it means to be an academic in creative ways.

Beth Cross is a Lecturer in the School of Education and Social Sciences at the University of the West of Scotland, UK. She researches the interface between formal and informal learning contexts and is particularly interested in dialogic methods of exploring learner identities, strategies and trajectories. She has taught in the areas of community education, social policy and childrens services in England and Scotland and worked with a number of creative interdisciplinary projects that involve visual and dramatic arts in order to expand the modalities for deliberation and participation. 

Ainsley Carnarvonis a Researcher and Digital Education Strategic Programme Manager at the HMFC Innovation Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland. His work involves creating digital education opportunities for the youth of Edinburgh, with particular focus on BAME , neurodivergent, and other underrepresented groups in STEM. His research focus is in Curriculum and Pedagogy with special interest in Diversity and Inclusion and Post colonial education in the Caribbean.

Chapter 1 Introduction - The threads of school uniforms woven in/with/through countries.- Chapter 2 Matter Matters - The importance of the material world and tinythings.- Chapter 3 It doesn't end at the cuffs: the discordant discourse of uniformed performance in the Caribbean.- Chapter 4 Intervening in school uniform debates: Making equity matter in England.- Chapter 5 Pupil participation in secondary school uniform policies in Scotland.- Chapter 6 School Uniforms in Ireland: The Intersection of Religion, Class and Gender.- Chapter 7 Students Appearance According to School Regulations: A Polish Case Study.- Chapter 8 Why do girls have to wear ties at school in the UK?.- Chapter 9 Social Class and School Uniforms: A Zimbabwean Case.- Chapter 10 The materiality and materials of school uniforms at a local and global level.- Chapter 11 Conclusion - Looking back to look forward.