Back to results

Hairdressing Apprentices Prepare for Polish Assignment

By
Spirit Hair Team
Share

Five young hairdressing apprentices from South Wales are brushing up on Polish phrases as they prepare for a three-day learning experience in Poland next month.

The visit to _ywiec, South Poland, from November 12th – 16th, has been arranged by the largest independent hair and beauty training provider in Wales, ISA Training, based at Pencoed near Bridgend.

During their stay the Welsh apprentices will attend hairdressing and beauty workshops, and a hairdressing exhibition in Katowice to experience the industry and culture of an Eastern European country.

The Health and Beauty Europe project is supported by the Leonardo Programme, part of the European Commissions’ Lifelong Learning Programme. The project involves short exchanges of health and beauty apprentices and staff with colleges in Poland, Spain and Turkey.

Institut Cal Lipolis in Tarragona wrote the bid for the exchange project and invited ISA Training to be partners. Links between the two organisations were first established in 2012 when ISA Training first began organising international work experience placements.

The project aims to enhance the learning experience of apprentices, increase their confidence and broaden their career horizons.

Apprentices Kirsty Luce and Gabrielle Regan from Shades salon in Whitchurch, Cardiff will be joined on the visit to Poland by Bethan England and Kelly Bodenham from Spirit Hair Team, Ystrad Mynach, and Kirsty Lynn from Cutting Edge, Cathays, Cardiff. 

Accompanying them will be ISA Training’s managing director Berni Tyler, data claims officer Cheryl Palmer, internal quality assurer Terri Dabbs and training consultant Cheryl Evans. They will support the apprentices and capture their learning experiences to contribute to the achievement of their apprenticeship programme.

It’s the latest in a series of international visits and work experience placements arranged by ISA Training. Earlier this year, a group of ten young hairdressing and beauty apprentices spent a fortnight working in salons in Cyprus.

Berni Tyler thanked the owners of all three salons in Wales for agreeing to release their apprentices for the Polish visit, which completes the next phase of ISA Training’s Oyster Project, based on the saying ‘The world is your oyster’. Berni said,

Poland is very different to the other countries we have visited and I think the learners are going to gain a lot from the cultural experience. We now live in a global age and we need to provide exciting learning opportunities for our work based learners. We have much to learn from other countries and they can also learn from us.

We want to enhance the learning experience and inspire our learners to realise that hairdressing and beauty therapy are professions that can grant them a passport to travel the world.