Why do learning providers in FE not have much respect?

[BeautyDiaries]

I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right area but can someone please tell me why colleges seem get such a bad rep on here? I've read a few posts where a provider in FE has been slated or someone has made a snide comment and it's all I can do not to get defensive and say 'hey! I teach in college and I try my bloody hardest to make sure my standards are top notch and that my students are industry ready'

It just makes me feel a little bit let down by the industry that this is what (it seems) employers think of us :-(

 

[persianista]

Most of us employers find that recently qualified people are most definately not industry ready. Remedial training is the norm for us.
It appears that colleges pass everyone regardless of their standard of work. We are aware that there is a financial incentive for them to do so.
Either that, or their standards of "industry ready" are incredibly low.

 

[BeautyDiaries]

Most of us employers find that recently qualified people are most definately not industry ready. Remedial training is the norm for us.
It appears that colleges pass everyone regardless of their standard of work. We are aware that there is a financial incentive for them to do so.
Either that, or their standards of "industry ready" are incredibly low.

I couldn't disagree with you more. I've worked in two colleges and as an IV as well as a teacher/assessor I refuse to put my name to Something that isn't industry ready. I don't believe my standards are low at all having worked in industry myself both as a therapist and as a manager.

The college I currently work in has a commercial salon which all our student spend 1 day a week in to develop and refine their skills. Our L3's are constantly keeping on top of their L2 skills as well in this salon in order to ensure they don't 'forget them' if that makes sense

I understand not everyone is perfect but I'm offended that I'm being tarred with the same brush as people who do that (which I know full well does happen) I thought we were meant to work together?!

 

[BeautyDiaries]

Oh jees that came across wrong! That's what I get for having a conversation with my mother whilst trying to reply! I meant to say that I appreciate no one is perfect

Facepalm :/

 

[persianista]

I couldn't disagree with you more. I've worked in two colleges and as an IV as well as a teacher/assessor I refuse to put my name to Something that isn't industry ready. I don't believe my standards are low at all having worked in industry myself both as a therapist and as a manager.

The college I currently work in has a commercial salon which all our student spend 1 day a week in to develop and refine their skills. Our L3's are constantly keeping on top of their L2 skills as well in this salon in order to ensure they don't 'forget them' if that makes sense

I understand not everyone is perfect but I'm offended that I'm being tarred with the same brush as people who do that (which I know full well does happen) I thought we were meant to work together?!

Ok so your college is different.
Its gonna be different in different areas and different colleges.
Round by me, these have been my experiences.
Maybe you should ask the salons in your area for their feedback rather than asking the web?

Sorry for not saying that all college leavers are perfect at all treatments and perfectly ready for life in the industry.
If you look at the number of threads on here asking for help, advice and information, then I hope it helps you realise that there are a lot of people who are not leaving college knowing everything there is to know.

 

[Lolly22]

I too agree with persianista.

I'm not in hair but Beauty. When I came out of college I was scared to do a basic bikini wax as my lecturer didn't let me practice this enough. Hence the reason why I am now spending more money training with Kim lawless to make myself better.

Half the people that come out of college can't even paint a nail to my satisfaction. And dont get me started on their massage or facials!

I feel that it does depend which college and which lecturer you had but this is my overall perception of it aswell. That the majority of people are just not ready straight after college.

I would agree with persianista again and say give the local salons a call and see what they think. Try calling places you know some of your students are working. and then you will get a true answer.

 

[BeautyDiaries]

Ok so your college is different.
Its gonna be different in different areas and different colleges.
Round by me, these have been my experiences.
Maybe you should ask the salons in your area for their feedback rather than asking the web?

Sorry for not saying that all college leavers are perfect at all treatments and perfectly ready for life in the industry.
If you look at the number of threads on here asking for help, advice and information, then I hope it helps you realise that there are a lot of people who are not leaving college knowing everything there is to know.

I didn't mean to offend I wasn't looking for you to say that I'm just trying to understand where the connection is being lost and why

Thanks

Sam
xoxo

 

[BeautyDiaries]

Ok, thanks both for suggesting I call local salons I'll give that a try

Once again I didn't mean to offend anyone I just think its such a shame that this is what's happening. Some comments put me on a bit of a downer because I do try really hard to keep my standards as high as possible n always try to think 'would I pay for that?' or 'would I be happy with that as an employer'. Will continue to try harder though

 

[hippy-chick]

I've studied in FE colleges and HE colleges and also private colleges.
I've taught in FE colleges and in private colleges.

I originally trained in a completely different field and left both FE and HE colleges not ready for industry and was told by people that employed me to forget anything I learnt in college and welcome to the real world!

20 years later I retrained in holistics. My first paying client straight out of college said she could tell I was straight out of college.

I can see both sides of the coin....am glad that you are both passionate and conscientious in your work and hopefully are releasing students ready for industry but it isn't always the case.

You will read pros and cons for FE college and for private colleges. Sometimes you are lucky with your tutor/college and sometimes you aint.

I was in top band for maths in secondary school, teacher retired, within 6 months I was in the bottom band and scraped a paltry grade 3 in maths by the end of it. Its not just THIS industry, its ALL EDUCATION.

 

[Suzanne1118]

Ok, thanks both for suggesting I call local salons I'll give that a try

Once again I didn't mean to offend anyone I just think its such a shame that this is what's happening. Some comments put me on a bit of a downer because I do try really hard to keep my standards as high as possible n always try to think 'would I pay for that?' or 'would I be happy with that as an employer'. Will continue to try harder though

you can try your very hardest and have the students standards high, the problem however is that in this industry you dont learn it all until your out there working on a different person every 15 mins or so with all sorts of different problems! You cant prepare therapists for everything that can ever happen because you cant predict the future.

The other thing is common sense. Many therapists when their new and they f up something they try to defend themselves and say 'oh sorry I didnt have enough time' or 'i usually work in the other room but i was put in here' or something along those lines as they are afraid of a complaint. This to me is the worst of all, we've all made mistakes, take it on the chin and admit and say sorry to the client when your caught out!

Another thing is timing which only comes after a few years. When I look back to the therapist I was when I first started, it used to take me an hour to do a full leg and bikini line, now its 20mins. This didnt happen till about 2 years after college.

The problems I find is not the trainers but the system. Exam ready and industry ready are two different things. They should change the exams to suit the standard employers are looking for. The first thing I was told in my first salon job was 'ok so forget everything you learned in college, this is how its done in a salon'! :|

So try not to take it personally, its the system, not you xxx

 

[MOS14]

Have to agree with above comments, everyone in my class passed, which in my opinion was a total joke! I think I am the only one that is now working in the industry. Our tutor never even looked at polishing skills just signed everyone off and on my last day I was assessed, if you can call it that on waxing one side of a bikini line, needless to say I have no confidence in this and am looking at paying to do a course. I am sure not all colleges are the same as we did have a great tutor for our massage block, I just wish we had her for everything! x

 

[laurakate]

You will read pros and cons for FE college and for private colleges. Sometimes you are lucky with your tutor/college and sometimes you aint.

I was in top band for maths in secondary school, teacher retired, within 6 months I was in the bottom band and scraped a paltry grade 3 in maths by the end of it. Its not just THIS industry, its ALL EDUCATION.

I agree with this. I think that regardless of the level of course or the subject being taught, the quality is always variable.

In this same respect, I have done both private and college education for nails and beauty and I wouldn't say that one is better than the other: I would say that the quality of learning experience and skills you leave with comes down to the individal experience.

There are colleges/tutors that are under pressure to pass people and there are probably private education companies who value money over course content/quality. But then on the flip side there are colleges/tutors who really care about getting people to a work-ready standard and there are private education companies who go above and beyond.

I think it's the same with all education in that the quality you recieve is a lot down to research and luck of the draw (regarding things like how passionate a tutor is or things like class sizes).

 

[Susie H]

I started out with industry training because my local college has so many beauty therapists working in call centres.
They hold nvq 2 and they are appallingly bad.
I was involved in a car crash that has left me with spinal injuries that mean I will never pass the medical to be a professional driver again. For me this was the perfect opportunity to go into the beauty industry full time and so I looked around for a good college.
I travel an 80 mile round trip, 4 days a week to attend my BTEC course but it's worth it.
My tutors are passionate, well informed and most importantly great teachers.
The group I am learning with are lovely, focused and know exactly what they want from this 2 year course.
Some of the other student groups are as far from that as it's possible to be.
They are rude, do the absolute minimum to pass and will no doubt be trying to sell me double glazing next year.
They have the same tutors as I do but their course gives a pass or fail, mine gives a fail, pass, merit and distinction.
Quiet frankly, if they are to stupid to see that they have some of our industries best ready to share everything they know, that is not the fault of the tutor.
But it is these silly girls who tarnish the reputation of the colleges. It is these silly girls who make it easy for the good tutors to say, you know what, I'm fed up of being disrespected, I've been head hunted by a private college or a international company, who are offering more money, better hours and top quality products with the added bonus that the students have paid through the nose to get a place on my course, so I'm going.
One of my tutors is a geek lurker, Hi Kelly she told us, when she was learning waxing that her tutor didn't really like it, so they only learned what they had to to pass and that afterwards she had to get further training to become good at it. Thankfully or luckily, I am taught by women who really enjoy what they are doing. Rather then teaching because they want the steady income to back up being self employed.
My local college is a 10 minute walk from my home and I wouldn't touch it with a barge poll.
This difference in standards will not change, look at our schools, they are all supposed to teach the same thing, to the same standard but we all know that's not true. We all know bad schools, where the teachers are little more then riot control offices.
As employers you don't have time to baby sit someone who behaves as if they are 12 years old. Why should you? You take someone on who is trained, eager to learn more and can't wait to get started, mostly that comes from people who do their research, pick their courses and tutors wisely and for the most part, they haven't come from a college, or if they have, they have backed up college with more training.
Oh look! My first geek book for 2012

 

[BeautyDiaries]

Thanks for all the feedback guys it's really interesting to see where everyone stands on this. I do agree that there is pressure to get people through and like any business it all comes down to money whether we like it or not and whilst I understand the reasons for this I dont think it should impact on the quality of training and education

@SusieH thanks for sharing ur first 'book' of 2012 lol

Sam
xoxo

 

[tigi]

I own a salon in norh wales and would be delighted to tell you of my experiences . unfortunately they are not positive ones , so much so that I refuse to take any more work experience students.

if I can be of any help, please just pm me.

tigi
xx

 

[laurakate]

I own a salon in norh wales and would be delighted to tell you of my experiences . unfortunately they are not positive ones , so much so that I refuse to take any more work experience students.

if I can be of any help, please just pm me.

tigi
xx

May I ask, is that because of how their skills are or is it more to do with their attitude?


I ask this because I am curious about what might make an employer most sceptial about newly qualified people?

 

[persianista]

May I ask, is that because of how their skills are or is it more to do with their attitude?


I ask this because I am curious about what might make an employer most sceptial about newly qualified people?

Most likely a bit of both.
Most employers will have come across college leavers who cannot pass atrade test but are told by their college that they are superb professionals who should ask for £15 an hour as a starting wage

 

[vgml]

I can only add (not long ago qualified beauty therapist) that colleges have very low standards and indeed everyone passes unless is REALLY thick. I went to very good college in central London,
I was very disappointed. Since I finished my college I felt I knew nothing. I bought myself a lot of professional books and studied myself.Also I know some beauty therapist which are kind enough to let me practice at theirs. Exams were very easy. You need only 70-75% to pass. Health and safety, lol, we were having manicure classes in the room with no air conditioning and windows were sealed (winter time). While practising nail polishing the odour of non acetone was unbearable.
No, we are NOT ready to work in beauty industry straight after finishing college.

 

[Tomme]

No1 can call the 1/2 weeks work experience real experience. While doing my level 1 I went to a salon I didn't work at for experience in another place, and they barely trusted me to make tea, where as I had a column and was doing the blowdrying at the salon I worked at.
I also think we should be more like Australia and have level 2 as a 2 year course not 1, because as soon as you can do a service in an allotted time and to a varying degree ( I still feel my class's basics like shampooing weren't up to standard) of quality your "competent".

I will add that the college this poster is on about is a good college, as I went there. It's the individual that are the problem.
Also a customer service course should be mandatory as I've had experience of rude therapists who are newly qualified. Xoxo

 

[Tomme]

Btw is Shula still in the hair dept? If she is say congrats on her wedding for me xoxo