Hair and Beauty Studies

Eireann Brooks, Programme Manager for Hairdressing, Kingston College
Deborah Carrington, Beauty Lecturer, Kingston College
Indianna, Beauty Therapist, Quad Leisure Spa

Narrator: For the Kingston consortium, a local hotel spa has already been identified as an ideal employer to set up visits for students on the Diploma in Hair and Beauty Studies. These learners are currently studying for an NVQ course and may move on to the Diploma in September 2009.

Eireann Brooks, Programme Manager for Hairdressing, Kingston College: The employer is very very keen for the students to come in and experience hands on what they expect of students when they leave school and they’re coming into the working environment.

Narrator: The aim of the visit is to get a feel for the running of the spa and not just the treatments that are available here.

Eireann Brooks: We can talk about what the employers expect, but actually hearing it first hand from an employer has much more impact than sitting in the classroom, talking about it.

Narrator: Reception is the heart and soul of the spa. Indianna is taking the learners through some role-play activities targeted at building their confidence.

Deborah Carrington, Beauty Lecturer, Kingston College: I really wanted to take them out of their comfort zone, they get quite used to working on one another in the classroom and the problem with that is it all becomes a little bit too easy for them.

Narrator: Role-play in the classroom is no substitute for the real life situations experienced during a visit.

Customer: Shall I fill in everything, yeah?

Learner: Yes please.

Customer: Excellent. Thank you very much!

Learner: Thank you. Would you like a drink?

Customer: Let’s say cappuccino, that would be really, really nice.

Learner: Ok, I’ll bring it over to you in a minute.

Learner: When you’re actually face to face with someone you get quite scared compared to what you think you’re going to be like when you’re practicing.

Narrator: For this visit, they’ve used a small group as it was decided to be the most effective way to deliver the learning within this particular spa, which is just one of a number of issues that practitioners need to consider to ensure successful delivery of the learning.

Eireann Brooks: What we first had to do was carry out a risk assessment. We had to get parental consent forms filled in as well - how long it was going to take and what time we’d be finished. And also the most key thing really is to ensure that the employer has booked out enough time, so the students can actually ask lots of questions and not feel rushed.

Learner: How do you cope with all the different types of clients?

Indianna, Beauty Therapist, Quad Leisure Spa: You try and get on their level, so if they come in and they’re not really that chatty, you’re not rude and not chatty back to them but you just respect that they don’t really want a conversation today.

Learner: Which treatments do you like doing the best and which ones don’t you like?

Indianna: I like the treatments where I get to sit down, because some days I’ll have back to back massage and it can get a little bit tiring. So when I know I’ve got facial at the end of the day I’m like “Oh yes!”

Narrator: So how do they think the visit has gone?

Learner: I think it’s really interesting, because you can get out of the classroom and you can get hands on experience and you learn better like that.

Learner: Watching what Indianna did, I kind of want to own my own business which I could run, and get to know clients and make them feel more beautiful.

Indianna: They were really good, they were really asking questions, they were interested in what I was doing. They weren’t too shy at all.

Deborah Carrington: For a lot of the girls, there was the side of dealing with clients that possibly was the real eye opener for them. They’re used to doing the little treatments, whereas to be coming in and actually realising that they may have to deal with people that perhaps aren’t quite so forthcoming with information. They’ve got to try and get the information out of somebody.

Narrator: In bringing the learners into a real life environment they’re able to contextualise the learning from the classroom.

Deborah Carrington: You tell them you’re a beauty therapist yourself, but because you’re their lecturer they don’t quite look upon you in the same light. So to bring them into an environment where they are actually working with a beauty therapist and she’s explaining the role that she takes on in the salon, what they can expect to do, hours, how to deal with clients etc. I think it’s possibly given them more to think about.

END