Are therapists taking things seriously?

[Paige@TheClinik]

The others thing that makes me mad is 'does anyone know a good cheap nail course/wax teacher/lash course within five minutes walk of my house?' rather than finding the best there is and traveling to it. Training can be expensive and good training can be really expensive - I know, I paid for a weeks course in London for me and my daughter with hotel - but is there really much to be learnt, gained or achieved by doing the closest and/or the cheapest rather than the most highly recommended? People come on here asking for recommendations then say they can't travel or afford it. The recommendations come from people who have done it. If it's that good, chances are it won't be cheap and it won't be on your doorstep...........Although some may get lucky!
Money will always be an issue but I wish people would stop looking for cheap shortcuts and start investing in their futures!

Vic x

I couldn't agree more! You get what you pay for in this industry xx

 

[ukbeauty]

Quite shocked reading this thread, that full-time college now means 2/3 days per week..........?
In the old days, we had to attend 5 full days per week, plus 1-2 evenings each week treating clients in the college salon. This was for 2 years. Work experience was compulsory to qualify. In addition, I have attended many additional courses each year to advance my knowledge and keep up to date with the industry.
This explains why so many Therapists are coming out of College and still need intensive training before being let loose on Clients. This is not improving their employment prospects, keeps wages low and prices for treatments cheap having a knock on effect for all.

 

[jojo77]

I did 5 days a week 4 full days in college and 1 day a week in placement . Took me 4 years to qualify and I book new training all the time . Love my job

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[Martin Duffy]

Quite shocked reading this thread, that full-time college now means 2/3 days per week..........?
In the old days, we had to attend 5 full days per week, plus 1-2 evenings each week treating clients in the college salon. This was for 2 years. Work experience was compulsory to qualify.

That's exactly what my HND entailed (mid to late 90's); I feel that these short low-hour courses with large class numbers are just a way for the colleges making a quick buck. It is certainly doing nothing to drive up industry standards!

 

[jmd1980]

That's exactly what my HND entailed (mid to late 90's); I feel that these short low-hour courses with large class numbers are just a way for the colleges making a quick buck. It is certainly doing nothing to drive up industry standards!

Agreed. This has driven the changeover from NVQ to VRQ. VRQ is not a 'work ready' qualification in the way that NVQ was, so it can be taught in less time. The assessment requirements are much less stringent. I cant believe for example how little waxing they have to do. Back in the day I remember having to wax forearms and abdomens! So you are right, standards are not being helped by the way we train new therapists. I believe a licensing system as per the USA would be a way to improve things.

 

[Ella's Tresses]

I look back now at what I learnt at college and what I know now. It's not even close.

I know therapists aren't going to come out of college knowing everything they're ever going to know but they should be competent at least.

I didn't even know what a serum was for or when/how to use one! I did two long days 10am till 9pm then one normal day 9-5pm.

I'm currently doing hairdressing as my work now concentrates on brides. It's three days totalling 12 hours, 9 of which are practical salon time. It's not enough but it's still classed as a full time course!

I know as a 30 year old that I'm going to have to put a hell of a lot of time and investment into getting myself up to industry standard after I finish. A lot of the young girls don't realise.

 

[Holly_]

Couldn't agree more with this thread! My level 2 was done as a VRQ and most of the girls basically had their hands held through all their assessments exams etc! Facials although the a&p was great (down to our tutor) the product knowledge etc left a lot to be desired.

I was lucky enough to complete my level 3 as an apprentice and as an NVQ. I was sent on product training and since qualified trained with numerous brands and only now to do I feel like skincare is really starting to 'click'!

In college we were taught that everyone is has a skin 'type' - since being qualified I have yet to meet a client that falls into a single skin type category! I tend to treat skin according to specific problems rather than types.

Also before qualifying I must admit to buying any old rubbish from boots purely because it was cheap and all I can think of is these therapists must not have had proper training as I would never in a million years dream of putting these cheap products onto my skin, never mind clients!

Good quality ingredients, science and research cost money unfortunately!

 

[gillian w]

What is also a shame is how easy it is to teach beauty therapy.With bad and little training now where are the good teachers going to be coming from in the future.

 

[persianista]

We see it all the time on here, newly qualified people whining that they can't get a job, only to see a chorus of 'go mobile'.
Maybe if the chorus was 'get more training', we might be doing a better service. Instead we all tiptoe around people who have done a day or twos training, and allow them to shout down those people who fully understand the industry standards, as demanded by the paying clients instead of the greedy training companies who feed these people a pack of lies as to how competent they actually are.

 

[Julie-Liz]

We see it all the time on here, newly qualified people whining that they can't get a job, only to see a chorus of 'go mobile'.
Maybe if the chorus was 'get more training', we might be doing a better service. Instead we all tiptoe around people who have done a day or twos training, and allow them to shout down those people who fully understand the industry standards, as demanded by the paying clients instead of the greedy training companies who feed these people a pack of lies as to how competent they actually are.

I agree with this. Im currently doing my VRQ level 3 and have every intention of training further when i leave. I do 3 10 hour days at college and in a 30 hour week 15 of those are prac the other 15 are key skills theory and a&p. I do experience in local training academy/salon because after doing the 1 week college told us was compulsory to do the owner advised me to go back to her for more and after reading this thread im very grateful to her for wanting to help. I think doing this course u make it your own, a student can go in do the minimum, do some mobile when they leave and end up packing it all in a few months later. Or they can go in take all they can, look for additional training, volunteer for experience and put thier all into it. I dont think its just down to how colleges train/teach its also up to the student to use every resource available and go further to better themselves. Our tutor has put us under no illusion that we can walk out of college industry ready. She constantly coaches us about bettering ourselves and continuously aiming higher and taking what we have as far as we possibly can.
I think its sad a lot of u feel that todays students might not make great therapists tomorrow. I think those who really want it will make it and the ones who just want an easy life will soon move onto something else. Hopefully the ones with a huge passion for it will end up the tutors of the future and great therapists will still continue to emerge. Despite how much assessment standards have changed.

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[Matthew Taylor]

We see it all the time on here, newly qualified people whining that they can't get a job, only to see a chorus of 'go mobile'.
Maybe if the chorus was 'get more training', we might be doing a better service. Instead we all tiptoe around people who have done a day or twos training, and allow them to shout down those people who fully understand the industry standards, as demanded by the paying clients instead of the greedy training companies who feed these people a pack of lies as to how competent they actually are.

You have hot the nail right on the head there.
That is EXACTLY the kind of thing I'm talking about!

 

[laurakate]

Investing in a skin care range is a massive risk and often way more pricey than other investments such as tanning, nails, waxing, lashes etc. Bigger investment equals bigger financial risk in a market that is already saturated with other therapists wanting clients. For me, I look at the cost of a lot of skin care ranges and consider what else that money would do for me and seeing that I don't want to pay to work that seals the decision for me really.

I have paid a few hundred for a skin care range but I considered that to be an investment in my education and professional development more than an investment in the product itself because as someone who likes to be employed and would maybe like to teach one day, I am more than happy to pay for product training so that I can use that level of knowledge that I value in the work place but there's no way I'd be willing to pay a four figure sum to risk having product sitting around in such a saturated market.

I am willing to invest in things but with skin care ranges costing a high proportion of what I earn there's little I can do to be able to invest in any of the big cheeses because that's currently what I'd consider to be seriously big money at the moment.

 

[laurakate]

I've just read my previous post back which is a comment on what I consider to be the financial barriers regarding taking on a skin care range.

In terms of the industry as a whole though, I think people doing stuff on the cheap and demanding top prices for it is a bit embarrassing though because at best it is deluded and at worst it is cheeky or maybe even sneaky. I did a trade test somewhere that had nipped to the local boots for their manicure products and there was no way I'd have wanted to work there having found that out.

 

[laurakate]

Regarding the education of beauty therapy, I would not want study at higher education level to become the standard and the norm for someone to be fully qualified because I feel that academia is very different to learning a vocation in the context of an nvq. The education shouldn't be watered down across more levels but the standard at nvq should be increased for the need of not wanting to dilute someones training into micro levels of attainment that take longer to achieve. Also, I would maintain that the income of many beauty therapists is too low to justify the cost of doing a university course to be considered fully qualified and reputable.

I don't feel that education should be dragged out because it's all too easy to fall into the safety net of staying in education when that is time that could be spent doing work experience in order to get out there in a commercial environment as soon as possible.

As a side note, the required standards that a college teacher must meet are less standard and strict compared to secondary school education. In this respect if I am to apply to beauty teaching roles I will probably do it with a secondary school pgce so I can be certain that I have a full teaching qualification. Also, the part time nature of a lot of beauty teaching posts tells its own story which again, perhaps puts off a lot of enthusiastic candidates