Monster: What made you want to be a Hairdressing Instructor?
Claudette: Having worked in a number of reputable Salons in West London in my early 20's, I decided that it was time to become an educator in my profession.

This was mainly due to the fact that I enjoyed facilitating 'model night' sessions for the up and coming juniors in the salon, and I decided that I wanted to formalise this in a full time capacity.

What skills and education are essential to your job? 
You will need to be qualified in Hairdressing up to NVQ Level 3 or equivalent, and have at least five years salon experience. You must also have (or be willing to obtain) your A1 Assessors Award which will allow you to assess candidates on a national Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in accordance to the Awarding Body specifications (i.e. City and Guilds or VTCT).

It will also be necessary to register with the IFL (Institute for Learning) in order to obtain an annual Qualified Teachers Status. You will need to have a recognised teaching qualification or be willing to achieve it within two years of commencing your employment. You must be creative, dynamic and able to keep up with the current trends and techniques in hairdressing by continuous training as the hairdressing industry is forever changing.

When working in a college environment it is important the work taught and assessed is in line with Industry standards therefore continual professional development is required every week. It’s also extremely important that you are patient, organised, and are good at communicating with people of different ages, cultures and backgrounds.

What advice can you offer someone wanting to become a Hairdressing Instructor?
If you feel that you are able to pass on your skills and knowledge to others, perhaps find yourself training less experienced Hairdressers in the salon now and enjoy watching individuals progress, then you will find this job very rewarding.

It’s important that you’re frequently adding new skills to keep your personal profile current and varied. You may want to consider pulling together a recent CV listing all of the training and experience you have gain to date and perhaps join a teaching agency. This mean your information can be passed onto various colleges and when work becomes available you may find yourself teaching in a very short space of time. Although the work through an agency may only be temporary, this can often lead onto more permanent positions once they arise.

What are the best and worst things about your role?
What gives me the most satisfaction within my job role is to watch students at the beginning of the academic year who find it difficult to hold a comb and scissors accurately, blossom into independent spontaneous hairdressers by the time they leave us!

What I find are the most frustrating task, I have to be honest here, is marking students work, when perhaps they haven't put in a lot of effort and the work has to be marked and marked again due to resubmissions. However, some assignments which are produced by students are a pleasure to read.

Are there any perks to the job?
The perks of the job has to be the fact that you will not be expected to work at the weekends and in some cases only one evening a week, which in our field of work is a blessing!

There are a few occasions when you may be required to work the odd Saturday or Sunday, but that would be related to a marketing activity such as working at the Excel Exhibition Centre on a career fair, which is fun and an opportunity to showcase artistic work.

What is the end goal in your career? 
I am the Head of Learning Area in Hairdressing at the college, following a number of years in the teaching profession. I can see myself continuing in this role for a good while yet!

Finish this sentence. "This week I have been mostly..."
“...planning for new courses in areas where we do not yet have provision.”


Fancy following in Alexa's footsteps? Check out our latest Hairdressing jobs or see the latest jobs at Newham College.