2026/03/30 by Belinda Peden, Cassandra Lane, A. C. Hall +2 · 1 voice
Health Professions · Social Sciences · Medicine · #Occupational Health and Performance #Education Discipline and Inequality #Thermoregulation and physiological responses
paper · doi:10.1016/j.anzjph.2026.100315
openalex publication_date 2026/03/30 · openalex created_date 2026/03/31 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
OBJECTIVE: Despite evidence of the benefits of physical activity, most children and adolescents are insufficiently active. Simple, low-cost, scalable and sustainable school-based interventions are needed. This study explored Australian public perceptions of allowing children to wear activity-enabling sports uniforms every day, following reports that school principals were reluctant to adopt this due to perceived community expectations. METHOD: A multi-methods content analysis applied a quantitative content approach to assess support for or against the proposal, and qualitative content techniques explored the reasons underpinning public sentiment. RESULTS: A total of 325 relevant comments and 1,983 poll responses were extracted from 12 sources. Overall, 76% of responses supported allowing students to wear sports uniforms every day. Three overarching themes were identified: student impacts (all sub-themes supportive); parent benefit (one sub-theme supportive; one mixed); and societal viewpoint (one sub-theme supportive; one mixed). CONCLUSION: Australian principals have reported perceived public expectations that students wear formal school uniforms as a barrier to adopting more flexible uniform policies. This study provides timely evidence that public sentiment may in fact support students wearing sports uniforms daily. IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH: These findings can inform strategies to address a barrier to a simple, scalable, population-level intervention to increase school-based physical activity.