No one can deny that 2020 turned beauty education on its head. The industry swapped the classroom for Zoom and, as a result, the calibre of online courses has soared. But with insurance restrictions to meet and a new way of teaching to navigate, how have course providers adapted to online?
“When the first lockdown came about in March, we initially postponed all of our courses until we were allowed to reopen in July”, says Julie-Ann McCawley, trainer for Scottish Beauty Expert Training Academy. “We thought about online education and how we could transfer these courses to a virtual method that would ensure students still received a high standard of training”, she says. This involved developing lesson plans and inviting a media company to film the practical elements. “We wanted a step-bystep instructional video that students could follow and pause as they practised at home”, she says.