Future skills for a better life in Sustainable Salons

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The project: "Future skills for a better life in Sustainable Salons" (Erasmus+ 2020-1-NL01-KA202-064515) tries to transfer the ideas and knowledge on sustainability and environment through information, a simplified standard, education and training to students, schools, salons and its employees and other stakeholders in the hair and beauty sector. This project aims besides providing insight into sustainability to also give an image of the profile of a hairdresser in 2030 from the viewpoint of sustainability, technology and entrepreneurial skills.

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Context

The hairdressing sector in Europe employs more than one million people across 400.000 hairdressing salons, receiving 350 million potential customers. Hairdressing (and barbering) services, together with beauty treatment - the hair and beauty sector as it is called - form the personal services sector. Over the last years the sector has gone through a great deal of changes. The sector often has more affinity with knowledge about their profession then with the other aspects of the business. Attention to labour, sustainability and environment, health and safety, marketing and services are success factors for the future. A lot of these aspects you could share under the label: sustainability & future oriented skills.

 

Objectives

In this project Future skills for a better life in Sustainable Salons, we will combine sustainable ideas through education and training with innovative ideas within the sector. The educational products we want to generate during the process will include workshops on sustainability and innovation, teaching materials for schools and extracurricular education about sustainability in the 'sustainable hair salon’ . We start with the development of a profile of a hairdresser and its competences (sustainability, technology, entrepreneurship) in 2030; Parallel we will develop a simplified low threshold system on sustainability/environment (label) for schools (salon). Simultaneously we will work on self-assessment internet tools on competence level and measuring the gap on profile and future competences and the gap of the level towards the sustainability system; specific learning material on sustainability/environment focussed on the sector and awareness tools to use in VET and salons to use in communication with employees and clients on the subjects. Against this background, co-financing of this proposed project by the EU would enable the participating partners to develop knowledge and tools that can easily be implemented by schools and used in salons throughout Europe on an easy, accessible level.

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What and how

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In the project we gather facts through an inventory of the hairdresser's competencies in 2030, the desired situation in a sustainable salon focused on environmental aspects (core of a simple standard), competences needed to reach this situation and research on two diagnostic self-assessment tools to map the current situation of: 

• competence level and measuring the gap on profile and future competences and

• the gap of the level towards the sustainability system on environment and sustainability in schools (salon).

 

The outcomes of the inventory will discussed with experts. These results will later serve as the input for developing the self-assessment tools, the learning material on environment in a sustainable salon and awareness material on sustainability. The 2 multiplier events are planned to share results and to generate commitment and remarks from our stakeholders. The project works with a final sector conference with student participation along the project. Using the competences of the different partners, their network, the experts, entrepreneurs in the sector and the teachers and students in the conferences and at home in the schools we combine knowledge and perseverance to finalize the task in a good way.

 

Results and impact

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We will communicate through a brochure, articles and press releases, a project website and the final conference in Italy, on the results of the entire project. By informing and searching for interaction with students, teachers and policy makers, we want to take steps towards more sustainability. Vocational education is in close contact with the companies in the local community and can open doors to achieve long term changes in the industry. Therefore, activities will be organized with students, workers and employers in the partner countries. Several classes with students and teachers are actively involved in the activities in each country. Through this project, we demonstrate that we need to act sustainably and in a striking way in the European hairdressing sector. 

 

Long term

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The bottom line effect of working sustainable in a ‘Sustainable or green salon’ is reducing risks and having more pleasure and satisfaction on the shop floor. Sustainability creates less environmental damage, less waste and a better and healthier use of materials and resources, a more controlled use of energy and water, more sustainable choices in investing in equipment, less problems with health and safety, and a higher level of customer experience and employee satisfaction. This all has to be managed by an entrepreneur or self-employed hair and beauty specialist with the right future oriented skills. In this way, the company can be in the long term more profitable and more competitive. This requires good and to the point education and training in regular VET and non-formal education accessible to people who are already working in the sector.

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EU-Erasmus+ funding

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication (communication) reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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