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The Geek

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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!


[break]Training providers

The massive disparity in training providers sometimes leaves little clarity upon which direction potential students should take. Even providers offering NVQ, VCTC, or other government level qualifications leave much to be desired. The most important decision when choosing a course and a training provider is to determine where you want to be at the end of the course and how far will it take you in the industry?

Many different providers focus solely upon foundational or beginning courses (which is fine and dandy if you want to remain a beginner for the rest of your career!). Most professionals look for a Provider that offers a modular structure that compliments their growth in the industry. It is significantly easier and more cost effective to stick with one training provider (or at least minimise the amount of providers you use) as long as they can fulfil all of your training requirements.

Other important aspects of choosing a provider are:

What types of learning materials are provided? Many providers will require you to purchase extra products to complete the course. This is fine just as long as it is spelled out in the beginning. Make sure to enquire about any hidden extras before booking the course.

Do they include manuals or textbooks? Do you need to purchase extra resource books? What is the quality of the resource material? Did it come off on the instructors Microsoft Word 93 program and you are now getting a 27th generation copy that causes even the most diligent of archaeologists to give up deciphering it in frustration?

Speaking of the trainer… who the heck is teaching the course anyway? What are their qualifications? How long have they been in the industry for? Do they have any awards under their belt? You may be as surprised as I was to discover that many private schools and colleges contain instructors that have little to no working experience! In fact – some recently just passed their beginners course! What type of continuing education requirement does the training provider require for their instructors? It doesn’t seem to make much sense in taking continuing education from an instructor that has none!

What is the ratio of instructors to students? When there gets to be more than 10 students per instructor, you will find that the amount of personal attention you receive will dwindle substantially.

Any questions?

A wise man once said 'those that question training only train themselves in asking questions’.
There is no question that education is the most significant way to make more money and have happier clients. Get to know various training providers and what types of education they offer. I only question those that don’t.
 

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