I havent had time to read all 7 pages, but I wanted to make a few points, I hope I dont repeat anything that someone else has said.
I fully understand and respect the points made about some people that are serious about their career not being in the position to pay the money up front for the new education.
However, I feel i want to point out 2 things.
1. We have seen a huge number of students flood our classes over the last 18 months which on the surface could be seen as a good thing, but, on looking deeper into the demographic of those students, a big % of them are not serious about starting businesses in a genuine way.
Im never one to be contraversial, and i never generalise, and these are my thoughts, not necessarily the thoughts of sweet squared or CND.
As a salon owner of 25 yrs, and an educator for 10, I am well versed to be well aware of the struggles of starting a business and the even more challenging prospect of keeping it running.
I was 21 when I started my business and it took me 4 interviews with my bank manager to get my £1500 loan to start my business.
2. When someone wants to embark on a new CAREER, they usually have 3 options; college; university or apprenticeship.
The 1st two options require financial input from the student and/or their families.
The option in our industry also allows for private education, which comes at a cost.
Toni and Guy are regarded as one of the most desirable places for hairdressers to learn. Their prices are among the highest.
The % of students leaving college after studying hair or beauty that stay in the industry is less than 20%
I attended college fulltime for 3 years, working 3 nights a week doing bar work to pay my way. My parents were unemployed and the only grant we received covered my travel for the hour train journey every day.
My grandparents helped me buy my kit and my parents kept me in food for free!
Today, students have the opportunity to cherry pick which parts of our industry they want to do.
While this is a good thing, it has also developed a way of "watering down" the level of professionalism among our professionals.
From my perspective, I woud rather have less students, therefore less money, but know that the students are more lkely to stay with their education through the whole journey.
I also have a passion for helping people that came from a similar background to me and I offer internships in my salon to enable students to work for us in return for their education.
As usual, i have written an essay, but i hope that people recognise its because of my passion for the new era in education.
And that is what this is, a new era for our industry as a whole.
One of the purposes of the changes to our classes is to support the students by giving them the relevant time needed to give them ALL of our knowledge and passion, AND give them a govement recognised qualificaton.
The perfect package!
