I’ve been wearing a shirt with a suit jacket for a while now while the japanese teachers are wearing tracksuits. Only the president and vice president are wearing suits.
Would it be appropriate for me to wear a tucked in t-shirt(plain black/white/navy/grey) with a suit jacket?
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There is no ALT dress code, if your company demands one dress code and your school allows another, it’s up to you to navigate what is appropriate.
Generally, if you’re in a BA entry level job being paid track suit wages… it’s a bit silly for the company to demand career professional attire, right?
A collared shirt would be fine but I feel most places a T shirt with a suite jacket is pushing it. While the teachers are wearing track suits they also have more business, business casual clothing they wear. They just kinda push the tracksuit thing as far as it can go at some schools. Generally good rule of thumb is watch what people wear when not wearing a track suit and go from there.
Ask your principal or vice principal.
My JET asked for me and I was told “anything you want”, especially since summer is coming.
I still like wearing a shirt and tie, but I plan to wear polo shirts in summer.
Polo shirts are the answer!
Cool biz starts May 1st – which should mean you can wear a polo shirt / golf shirt with khakis or more casual (not jeans) trousers.
I’d hazard a guess that the ones wearing tracksuits either are PE teachers or are doing sports clubs or perhaps even subbing in PE if regular PE teacher out.
Most of the teachers who wear sports outfits are generally responsible for club activities. As an ALT you typically aren’t, so I would stay away from sport wear.
Business casual is the best way to go. You should mostly avoid extremely tight fitting/revealing clothes, shorts/short skirts, neon colors, basic T-shirts, jeans, and “party wear”.
Polo shirts, buttoned shirts, and conservative business sweaters/cardigans are a good go to for tops. If you absolutely feel the need to wear a plain T-shirt, put a nice looking cardigan over it and it’ll look very nice.
Do you work at an elementary school? If so, you can probably dress down a little. It’s probably best to ask someone you’re working with though. I’d also advise making it a gradual change, so people can easy into it. At junior/senior high school, things can be a bit more strict, though that isn’t always the case.
In addition, as somebody else mentioned, cool-biz is going to be a thing starting May, so you can probably say hi to short-sleeved polo shirts.
For the record, the board of education I work for apparently told the junior high school I often work at that they’re okay with short sleeves and no tie, but they do expect a shirt with a collar (a polo shirt is fine) and long trousers (no shorts or anything). At elementary schools things tend to be far more informal (but shorts are still quite uncommon).
Just avoid jeans. In addition, always make sure you have a suit with you (either in you car (if you drive to work) or in your locker if you have one), just in case you need one for some reason. And as always, every situation is different, so just ask a co-worker for their feedback.
I work at an ES and my company requires me to wear a coat and tie, year round. They said “cool biz” is only for government workers.
It really depends.
Some schools want business casual, some don’t care if you showed up in a hoodie. Suits are only really expected for specific things like graduation ceremony or maybe if you’re demoing a lesson to parents, etc.
I reckon just wear a wife beater, trackie dacks and thongs. You can then use them to teach the kids some Aussie English.
Schools have presidents?
When in doubt, ask. Usually you’ll be allowed to wear the same as whatever the teachers are wearing.
Lmao and then there’s me coming to work in a hoodie everyday. It’s already been said but unless you are directed/pulled up on dress, wear whatever you like within reason.
Coming to work as an ALT in a suit for close to minimum wage is going to get tiring. In the summer it’s going to get sweaty, you need to spend money cleaning your trousers and shirts constantly (That is unless you have the time and energy to wash/iron/fold them yourself). That said, if you’re one of those ALTs that actually does spend a lot of time in a classroom and not deskwarming, a suit/white shirt isn’t the worst idea. You can also get away with a nice sweater/jumper with or without a white shirt underneath.
Just use your judgement.
Turn up to school in a shirt and tie, and then change into basically anything you want. Especially at elementary school level
At some point you will work out what the ‘normal point’ for your school is.
There are teachers who will always wear the ASICS tracksuit. You can do that too if you can justify it by being on the playground or art class every couple of hours
Don’t wear a t-shirt. Wear a short-sleeved button shirt, or anything under a plain sweater.
Don’t tuck in your t shirt Napoleon Dynamite.
Suits for big events.
Regular classes are slacks and a collared shirt. Something easy to move in and breathable. Sweater if it gets cold.
After my classes are finished, I changed into gym clothes. From there I do prep and if there’s leftover time, I run on the track, clean classroom with the rest of the school body, then join club activities until the school bus arrives for the students.