Short Courses or NVQ Courses – Which One is Better?

It is often thought that you will become a better nail technician if you train within a further education college and achieve an NVQ qualification. However this is an area I feel passionate about and its time the nail industry lost this stigma of ‘you are only qualified if you have an NVQ’. As a trained nail technician myself I have had the opportunity to work within Further Education Colleges as well as within Private Colleges on short intense courses. From my own experience I would advise students to choose according to their own individual needs and ability and take into account the accessibility of the courses, cost and quality of education.

Short Intense course
So letʼs look at the advantages of short intense training: Small group numbers, Courses range from 1 day to 6 weeks, One to one training & mentoring, Experienced and industry based educators, Recognised qualification, Individual course programme. The aim of short intense training is to make education enjoyable, achievable and affordable. We often find students who cannot commit to attending a 2 year course programme at a further education college enrol on one of our complete nail technicians courses allowing them to achieve a recognised qualification in less than a quarter of the time it would take them at a college.

NVQ Training
Now letʼs look at the advantages of NVQ training: Longer period of time to complete qualification Support provided for learning difficulties Higher level of qualification. Funded courses for 14-19 year olds. The nail industry needs to move away from the concept of all technicians needing an NVQ qualification and move forward to technicians having the qualification and skill. Being a nail technician is about not just having the qualification but also being able to have the knowledge, skill and understanding of the nail industry. Having run my own business for the last 5 years I am often approached by nail technicians who have an NVQ qualification but do not have the practical experience and commitment to move forward within the industry. What I mean by this is that you can have the best qualification in the world but if you havenʼt had the practical input or experience then it is difficult to employ you as a nail technician. Short intense courses allow you as a nail technician to gain the qualification and work within the industry which in turn gives you the experience and practical input needed. Speaking to beauty therapists within the industry I am often told that many of them have the qualification of nails as part of their NVQ qualification but since training they have not used that part of the qualification. My question raised here is why is this happening and what can be done about it? My final advice would be to anyone considering training as a nail technician, to think about your own commitments and what would work best for your own individual learning needs, research into courses and colleges, phone and discuss any questions with colleges and think about “is this truly what you want to do at heart?” If you do not have the passion for nails you will not make a successful nail technician. On an average 90% of our students who train at Next Step Beauty become successful nail technicians in the industry either working as a mobile technician or working in a salon. I would like to finish with congratulating all our previous students who have completed and passed their nail technician courses.