HJ VOICENOTES

Carolyn Newman has been an educator for over 30 years and is passionate about delivering education that transforms businesses

“THERE’S A LOT OF NOISE OUT THERE, AND YOU NEED TO FIND THE RIGHT EDUCATOR TO GIVE YOU WHAT YOU NEED!”

I’ve been an educator for 31 years and a lot has changed in that time. Yes, social media has to some extent opened the doors for everyone to be an educator, but not all education is created equal. Despite the rise of social media educators and the pandemic moving hairdressing education online, people still want to learn in-person.

I was only 26 when I became an educator and I was training as a Salon Manager at the time. Learning to be an educator was great for my career. It taught me about communication, organisational skills, and honed my ability to review performance and skill. You can be an amazing hairdresser, but it doesn’t make you an amazing teacher. You need to be able to break the skills down and use the right body language. If you look at experienced educators, they make it look easy. But believe me, it’s not!

I would never teach a skill if I wasn’t an expert in that field. In fact, when I first created my social media courses I gave a taster session for a reduced price and invited my peers to attend and give feedback. I go on ‘trainthe-trainer’ courses and in 2019 I did my Level 3 Award in Education and Training with Habia which refreshed my education skills, plus I’m a City and Guilds qualified assessor and verifier too.

There’s a lot of noise out there, so when you are looking to book on a course, ask yourself: What is your objective? Are you looking to be inspired? Are you looking to learn the fundamentals? Are you looking to update your skills? You shouldn’t do training for training’s sake. You have to be able to earn money from it. If I spent money on a vivids course, that would only be for inspiration. Whereas a course on blonding techniques would earn me money. 

For salon owners, education is both a financial and a time investment. If you are sending someone from your salon to do a course, they should come back and educate the whole team on what they learnt. When I was an Education Director, we had a pre- and post-course form that learners would fill out. I would look at their figures over the next month, because I would expect to see an increase. For example, if they went on a theory course and got more confident in their consultations, I would expect their number of colour services to rise. There was always an expectation. As a learner you have to have accountability.

Education online is great, but always check out an educator’s experience, qualifications and reviews. Hairdressers are hands-on people by nature, so we need to ensure that we don’t lose opportunities to learn in-person.