Student Dress Code

Human rights requirements

By upholding human rights and anti-discrimination legislation, schools can:

• support a safe and inclusive school environment where the school community feels:
  • welcome
  • supported
  • physically and emotionally secure
• ensure that their student dress codes enable all students to participate fully in school life
• increase the sense of belonging to and engagement with schools for students:
  • from all backgrounds including the diversity of religious, linguistic and cultural backgrounds
  • regardless of personal characteristics, such as disability, health condition, and gender expression
• model appropriate behaviour for resolving issues and promote mutual respect for all members of the school community
• build effective relationships with:
  • parents/carers
  • students and staff from diverse cultural, linguistic and religious backgrounds.

Legal requirements relevant to student dress codes

Under state and federal law, it is unlawful to discriminate on the basis of sex, gender identity, intersex status, disability, age and race.

This applies regardless of whether the views of the school community have been taken into account.

Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic)

The Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) requires that students are not discriminated against (directly or indirectly) on the grounds of personal characteristics, such as: age, disability, gender identity, physical features, race, religious belief, sex or sexual orientation.

• Direct discrimination may occur where a school has different uniform requirements for students with different personal characteristics and this difference results in one group of students being treated less favourably than another.
• Indirect discrimination may occur when treating everybody the same way disadvantages someone because of a personal characteristic. For example, a school's physical education uniform could indirectly discriminate against students of particular faith backgrounds if, by wearing it, they were not able to conform to their cultural or religious requirement to dress modestly.

For a full list of personal characteristics protected under State equal opportunity law, visit: Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.

The Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) allows schools to set and enforce reasonable standards of dress and appearance for students.

• The more extensive, engaging and collaborative the consultation process, the more likely it is to be considered reasonable.
• A standard is considered reasonable if the school has taken into account the views of the school community in setting it.

Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) (Charter)

Schools and school councils must act and make decisions consistently with human rights requirements.

• Schools must treat students equally and balance the rights of individual students against the best interests of the school community as a whole when developing and implementing their student dress codes.
• For more information on the Charter, including training modules and policy guidance see: Human Rights Charter.

Rights may be subject to reasonable limits that can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society taking into account factors such as the nature of the right, the importance and purpose of the limitation, and whether any less restrictive means could reasonably achieve the same purpose.

• School councils are encouraged to consider ways of accommodating a student’s human rights under the Charter (for example right to equal and effective protection from discrimination) while maintaining a suitable standard of dress and appearance, for example, through an exemption process, or through providing suitable options within the student dress code.
• Dress codes with gender specific requirements are not necessarily discriminatory under the law, however, schools and school councils are expected to develop, as far as practicable, dress code requirements that are similar for all students and where options are available, they should be available to all students.
• In particular, all schools must allow girls the option of pants and shorts in their dress code.
• This does not supersede students' right to feel safe and comfortable at school.