Everywhere you turn there are more and more options for training. Product led, NVQ, VCTC, colleges, private schools, apprenticeship programs, home learn, web learn – you practically need to attend a course on choosing the type of course and centre that best suits your needs.

There are many different types of education programmes out there. From government recognised qualifications (NVQ) to private schooling programs, to product specific programs. Each has their specific strengths and their weaknesses. Knowing each of those can arm you with the knowledge you need to get the best education for your buck.

What types of education are there?

Product led education is a very popular choice as it is focused on working successfully with a particular brand or product line. This ‘specialised’ approach is popular as costs are usually offset by the product distributors and the information is usually very current and specific to the brand you are using. The downside is that many of these types of courses are lacking in aspects like deep anatomy and physiology. Another downside is that a lot of product led education is limited to the type of systems offered by the products distributor which can leave students stuck with only learning one system. This approach may have been fine 10 years ago, but now it is imperative to be fluent in a variety of systems.

College and based courses generally offer a good all around base for education. Usually the courses taught are specifically generic and focus more upon aspects of anatomy and physiology than their product specific counter parts. These types of course are usually longer than their counterparts and as such, they frequently offer financial packages which can help offset the higher course costs associated with longer courses. The downside with college courses is that they usually offer little to no further education programmes, the training they do offer is generic across brands leaving you to follow up with your product supplier for more specialised training, and the biggest bummer that I have found is that many colleges trainers often lack a lot of salon experience – make sure you check your trainers credentials before signing up!