work and school readiness: the role of appearance management

1. Work and School Readiness:The Role of Appearance Management Beth Winfrey Freeburg, Ph.D. Sally E. Arnett, M.S.Ed.

3. Life Skills Education Life Skills Education addresses skills that are necessary for everyday living. First step: build awareness of the relationship between appearance and success at work or school.

5. Perception

6. Perception

7. Life Skills Education & Appearance Life Skills Education curriculum� �calls for the development of a set of life skills that are positioned centrally to students� employability.� Role of CTE

8. Work Readiness & Appearance Defined as preparing students to seek employment Research shows relationship: Effective image and job performance Positive evaluations Formal dress increased job performance Schools must integrate curriculum with business expectations, including standards for appearance

9. School Readiness & Appearance Dress Codes �The world more often rewards the appearance of merit than merit itself.� Interviews Social groups School spirit

10. Purposes of the Project Create awareness of the role of appearance management in readiness for work and school Provide two FCS pre-service teachers an opportunity to assist in the development and implementing of appearance management curriculum

11. Method � Purpose 1 Participants 132 high school junior and seniors enrolled in a consumer education class 13 consumer education students randomly selected from the sample

12. Method � Purpose 1 Materials Unit of Instruction with 4 lessons http://lifeskills.wed.siu.edu Appearance Management Survey 8 demographic questions 8 statements

13. Method � Purpose 1 Procedures AMS administered as pretest Appearance management instruction AMS administered as posttest Students interviewed

14. Method � Purpose 1 Analysis Paired sample T-Test One sample T-Test Content Analysis

15. Results � Purpose 1 Demographics males (n=70; 53% ) & female (n=62; 47%) juniors (n=78; 59.1%) & seniors (n=54; 40.9%) White (n=129; 97.7%), Black (n=2; 1.5%), & Asian (n=1; 0.8%) Current Employment 77 (58.3%) have a job (up to 15 hours per week) Plans after High School 77 (58.3%) 4-year College/University

16. Effect of Appearance Management Instruction Greatest significant increase in awareness: How I dress affects the quality of my work at school. disagree to agree Workplace performance is affected by the required level of dress formality (i.e., uniform, casual dress, professional dress). not sure to agree

17. Workplace performance is affected by the required level of dress formality (i.e., uniform, casual dress, professional dress). You feel professional when you dress professional, dress affects how customers look at you. �it shows how clean and responsible you are and that you take your work seriously.

18. How I dress affects the quality of my work at school. �if I am dressed differently than everyone else, could be distracting because people are looking me, might be talking about me. I feel more confident and receive more respect if dressed appropriately for school.

19. Effect of Appearance Management Instruction No significant increase in awareness: Casual dress in the workplace negatively affects the quality of work. not sure Comparison???

20. Casual dress in the workplace negatively affects the quality of work. casual dress calms down the work atmosphere. I might work better if I�m comfortable.

21. Method � Purpose 2

22. Qualitative Pre-Service Interviews Purpose 2 What are the perceived benefits/challenges of this experience? (B) ��having direct contact with students.� (B) ��having the opportunity to think on my feet.� (C) ��classroom management and student discipline�� (C) ��unsure of the expectations of the cooperating teacher.� Do you feel the lessons in your methods course mirror what goes on in the classroom? Is your teacher education program adequately preparing you for your role as a future teacher? ��a good preparation course. The course content helped with understanding why students act the way they do, but not how to manage them..� �Methods classes reflect a perfect situation with well-behaved students, ready to learn, and more often than not this is not the case. Methods classes are a good place to begin, but perhaps taking the same lesson to a real teaching situation would reveal much more to the teacher in training. �

23. Qualitative Pre-Service Interviews Purpose 2 From this experience, what will you seek to improve on or want to know more about? �I will definitely learn more about technology. My students know more than I do.� �I am curious about learning styles as they apply to each individual.� Did this early field experience clarify your desire to teach? �� given me confidence.� �I enjoyed the experience. I feel honored to influence tomorrow�s adults as an FCS educator.�

24. Conclusions Life Skills Curriculum developed for this project provides curriculum that does not exist for CTE. This training increases students� awareness of the importance of appearance management as a part of work and school readiness. These students do not see casual dress as negatively impacting their performance at work. Workplace opportunities for pre-service teachers build confidence, skills, and insight.

25. Thank You!

26. Appearance Management Survey My school dress code is very strict. My school dress code allows me to wear what ever I want to wear to school. How I dress affects the quality of my work at school. Dress affects the quality of performance in the workplace. Casual dress in the workplace negatively affects the quality of work. Dress codes are necessary for ensuring a professional performance at work. Professional dress promotes efficiency in performing tasks. Work performance is not affected by the required level of dress formality (that is uniform, casual dress, professional dress).

27. Opinion Scale = strongly agree = agree = not sure = disagree = strongly disagree