How to Set Up your Own Hairdressing Training Company

We get a lot of learners who come to us from the hair and beauty industry. A persistent question we get asked is: How do I start my own hairdressing training company? Many of them are looking for a career change or want to qualify trainee hairdressers through their qualifications. If that’s the case for you, then we have all your questions answered in this blog.

Starting point

The first thing you need to start your own training company is qualifications. You need to have a relevant qualification in the area you want to assess and train. This would be either hairdressing or hair and beauty. Or more specialist qualifications. Alongside that qualification, you need to have relevant experience.

There are three other qualifications you need someone to hold within the centre. The first is the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Related Achievement (CAVA). So you are qualified to observe and review your learner’s training. An assessor is necessary to provide constructive feedback to learners. The next qualification is the Level 3 Award in Education and Training (AET). This is why you are qualified to not only assess but to teach as well. This is great to match your experience with formal teaching skills.

There are two more qualifications you need someone to have. These are the IQA and Lead IQA. Also known as the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice and the Level 4 Certificate in Leading the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice.

Within the company, you will need to have at least one assessor and one IQA. You can take on one of those roles, but not both. Management roles are well suited to IQA roles, so keep that in mind.

Next

Courses! The next thing you need to think about is what kind of courses you want to deliver. There are a couple of different course models. These are:

Bespoke

Bespoke courses are the ones you write yourself for your company.

Accredited

Accredited courses are those written by an awarding body. It is required that you are registered with the awarding body to offer their courses. 

Government Funded.

A government-funded course is any course that is paid for entirely or partly by the government. There are different funding models within government-funded courses.

The determination is for you to find out if you want a bespoke course, to become accredited, or if the government funds the courses. The focus of this would be price and money. You may have less income coming in if you’re more specialised, or you may have more if what you specialise in is more lucrative.

Awarding Body

If you wish to become accredited, then the next step is to apply with an awarding body. They are responsible for the course framework and the qualifications you want to teach. The awarding body will monitor your centre to ensure you are complying with industry standards. They will also issue the certificates to your learners. Keep in mind that some awarding bodies don’t deliver all the same qualifications, so make sure you’re choosing the right ones for you.

Health and Safety

Make sure you’re health and safety compliant! This is extremely important in the hair and beauty industry. You are going to be working with a lot of different chemicals and sharp objects. So becoming health and safety-compliant is a must. Not only that, you need to keep your learners and staff safe.

How we can help

There are a few ways we can help you! Firstly, we offer the CAVA, AET, IQA and Lead IQA courses. So that’s a win-win all around. Secondly, we have a section on our website dedicated to different types of training companies. Like the ones we’ve talked about. If we haven’t answered all of your questions here, we offer a consultation service that walks you through the entire process.