Unit title: Hairdressing: Employability Skills (National 4) Unit code: J16R 74 Superclass: HC Publication date: August 2018 Source: Scottish Qualifications Authority Version: 4.0 Unit purpose This has been designed as a mandatory unit of the National 4 Skills for Work Hairdressing course and should be taken as part of that course. This unit focuses on the employability skills identified by employers in the hairdressing industry. On completion of this unit learners will be able to demonstrate a positive approach when interacting with others, including customers. This positive approach should include communicating appropriately, working as a member of a team, and having respect and consideration for others. Learners will also develop the ability to review their own progress, identify strengths and weaknesses and identify their own development needs. These skills are transferable to other employment areas and will in general enhance learner s employability. This unit is suitable for those who have no previous qualifications or experience and wish to gain an introductory qualification as part of a general education or as a first step to more specialised study. Outcomes On successful completion of the unit the learner will be able to: 1 Interact positively with customers in a hairdressing salon environment. 2 Establish and maintain good working relationships with others in a hairdressing salon environment. 3 Review own performance and identify areas for improvement in specified employability skills. August 2018, version 4.0 1
Credit points and level 1 national unit credit at SCQF level 4: (6 SCQF credit points at SCQF level 4) Recommended entry to the unit Entry is at the discretion of the centre. Core Skills Achievement of this Unit gives automatic certification of the following Core Skills component: Complete Core Skill None Core Skill component Working Co-operatively with Others at SCQF level 4 There are also opportunities to develop aspects of Core Skills which are highlighted in the Support Notes of this Unit specification. Context for delivery If this unit is delivered as part of a course, it is recommended that it should be taught and assessed within the subject area of the course to which it contributes. The assessment support pack (ASP) for this unit provides assessment and marking guidelines that exemplify the national standard for achievement. Centres wishing to develop their own assessments should refer to the ASP to ensure a comparable standard. A list of existing ASPs is available to download from SQA s website (http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/46233.2769.html). Equality and inclusion This unit specification has been designed to ensure that there are no unnecessary barriers to learning or assessment. The individual needs of learners should be taken into account when planning learning experiences, selecting assessment methods or considering alternative evidence. Further advice can be found on our website www.sqa.org.uk/assessmentarrangements. August 2018, version 4.0 2
National unit specification: statement of standards Unit title: Hairdressing: Employability Skills (National 4) Acceptable performance in this unit will be the satisfactory achievement of the standards set out in this part of the unit specification. All sections of the statement of standards are mandatory and cannot be altered without reference to SQA. Outcome 1 Interact positively with customers in a hairdressing salon environment. Performance criteria (a) (b) (c) (d) Meet specified salon standards for appearance and behaviour. Communicate with customers politely and clearly at all stages of the interaction. Ask appropriate questions to establish customer needs. Respond to customers questions and seek help from others where necessary. Outcome 2 Establish and maintain good working relationships with others in a hairdressing salon environment. Performance criteria (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) Carry out agreed duties as part of a team. Ensure that communication with others is clear, accurate and positive. Listen and respond appropriately to others. Give help and assistance to others when needed. Ask for help and advice from others when needed. Outcome 3 Review own performance and identify areas for improvement in specified employability skills. Performance criteria (a) (b) (c) (d) Identify own strengths and weaknesses in specified employability skills. Gather feedback from others on specific aspects of own skills and abilities. Identify areas for improvement in specified employability skills and set relevant goals. Evaluate progress in achieving goals over a set period of time. Evidence requirements for this unit Evidence is required to demonstrate that learners have achieved all outcomes and performance criteria. Performance evidence and written/oral recorded evidence which covers all the outcomes and performance criteria is required. August 2018, version 4.0 3
Outcomes 1 and 2 performance evidence Learners will be required to demonstrate, by practical activity, interaction with customers on a minimum of two occasions that they are able to: Meet specified salon standards for appearance and behaviour. Communicate with customers politely and clearly at all stages of the interaction. Ask appropriate questions to establish customer needs. Respond to customers questions and seek help from others where necessary. Learners will be required to demonstrate, by practical activity, interaction with others in a team on a minimum of two occasions that they are able to: Carry out agreed duties as part of a team. Ensure that communication with others is clear, accurate and positive. Listen and respond appropriately to others. Give help and assistance to others when needed. Ask for help and advice from others when needed. Assessor observation checklists should be used to provide evidence of performance and should be based on observation, on an ongoing basis, in the hairdressing salon environment. Practical activities should be carried out either in a realistic working environment or real workplace, which involves working with customers and working with others in a team, and develops good working practice. Outcome 3 learner review sheets Evidence requirements for outcome 3 should take the form of four completed learner review sheets which will give learners an opportunity to record their personal development. One will be based on an early review, two are to be completed throughout the programme and the fourth will be based on a review carried out towards the end of learner s programme of activities. It is expected that, at this level, learners will be given support and guidance from the assessor/person responsible before completing the final review. When delivering this unit as part of the National 4 Skills for Work Hairdressing course, opportunities will occur throughout the course to identify, develop and practise the relevant skills. It will therefore be appropriate that assessment of this unit is integrated with practical activities throughout the course. The ASP provided for this unit illustrates the standard that should be applied. It includes assessor checklists for outcomes 1 and 2 and learner review sheets for outcome 3, which include the specified employability skills. If a centre wishes to design its own assessments for this unit, they should be of a comparable standard. August 2018, version 4.0 4
Development of skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work It is expected that learners will develop broad, generic skills through this unit. Employability is a key aspect of Skills for Work and is present throughout the unit. In addition, there are a number of other skills that learners will be expected to improve on and develop as they undertake this unit, these can be drawn from the main skills areas listed below. These must be built into the unit where there are appropriate opportunities. 1 Literacy 1.1 Reading 1.2 Writing 1.3 Listening and talking 3 Health and Wellbeing 3.1 Personal learning 3.2 Emotional wellbeing 3.4 Planning for, and making, choices and changes 4 Employability, enterprise and citizenship 4.1 Employability 4.3 Working with others 4.4 Enterprise 5 Thinking Skills 5.1 Remembering 5.2 Understanding 5.3 Applying 5.4 Analysing and evaluating 5.5 Creating Amplification of these is given in SQA s Skills Framework: Skills for Learning, Skills for Life and Skills for Work. The level of these skills should be at the same SCQF level as the unit and be consistent with the SCQF level descriptor. Further information on building in Skills for Learning, Skills for Life and Skills for Work is given in the National unit support notes section. August 2018, version 4.0 5
National unit support notes Unit title: Hairdressing: Employability Skills (National 4) Unit support notes are offered as guidance and are not mandatory. While the exact time allocated to this unit is at the discretion of the centre, the notional design length is 40 hours. Guidance on the content and context for this unit This unit focuses on the employability skills identified by employers in the hairdressing industry. It is essential to emphasise the development of the skills identified in the outcomes in order to ensure that learners understand the importance of how they interact with customers and others if they wish to progress in this vocational area and make a positive contribution when working in a hairdressing salon. The unit also gives learners the opportunity to take responsibility for improving their performance by identifying areas where personal development is required through selfevaluation, taking feedback from others, setting goals for improvement, reflecting and evaluating. These skills are transferable to other employment areas and will in general enhance learner s employability. Employability skills During this unit, in addition to the specific vocational skills developed and assessed, learners will have opportunities to develop the following employability skills: a positive attitude* a willingness to learn an interest in hairdressing drive and commitment good timekeeping* appropriate appearance* customer care skills* good verbal communication* good listening skills* ability to work in a team* respect and consideration for others* ability to follow instructions* ability to multi-task timeliness (showing a good sense of time) awareness of Health and Safety Procedures awareness of salon conditions awareness of salon roles and responsibilities confidence to seek feedback* review and self-evaluation skills* Achievement in a number of these employability skills (those marked with an asterisk*) will be clearly identified as a result of the evidence generated through the assessment activities for this unit. August 2018, version 4.0 6
Practical activities should be carried out either in a realistic working environment or real workplace, which involves working with customers, working with others in a team and develops good working practice. This unit is not suitable for delivery in a conventional classroom setting. Guidance on approaches to delivery of this unit When delivering this unit as part of the National 4 Skills for Work Hairdressing course, opportunities will occur throughout the course to identify, develop and practice the relevant skills. It is therefore recommended that delivery of this unit is integrated throughout the course. Learners should receive an induction to the unit which explains the requirements of the unit and the ways in which they can generate evidence. It will be important to ensure that learners taking this unit are provided with advice and guidance on what is expected of them when they are working in the hairdressing industry. Learners must be given clear information, advice and guidance about what their role is within the organisation with regards to: appearance (eg specified salon dress code, hygiene, hair, make-up) attitude (eg willingness to learn, interest in hairdressing, drive and commitment) behaviour (eg timekeeping, respect and consideration for others, awareness of health and safety procedures) customer care (eg dealing with customers needs/enquiries, communication) working in a team (eg good verbal communication, good listening skills, ability to follow instructions, timeliness (showing a good sense of time), ability to multi-task, helping with general salon duties) It is also important that learners get support and feedback from a responsible person on their self-evaluation and progress. Feedback should highlight aspects where learners did well and areas that require to be improved. Discussion with learners, using the feedback, will help learners to identifying action points for improvement. It is expected that, at this level, learners will be given support and guidance from the assessor/person responsible before progressing to assessment. Guidance on approaches to assessment of this unit Evidence can be generated using different types of assessment. The following are suggestions only. There may be other methods that would be more suitable to learners. Centres are reminded that prior verification of centre-devised assessments would help to ensure that the national standard is being met. Where learners experience a range of assessment methods, this helps them to develop different skills that should be transferable to work or further and higher education. The evidence requirements are fully expressed in the mandatory section of this unit specification. It is recommended that, when this unit is being taken as part of the National 4 Skills for Work Hairdressing course, assessment is integrated with practical activities throughout the course. August 2018, version 4.0 7
This means that the necessary evidence can be gathered at appropriate points during the course rather than in a restricted 40 hour block. Opportunities to gather evidence can be found in the activities undertaken in the Hairdressing: Salon Awareness (National 4), Hairdressing: Working in the Salon (National 4) and Hairdressing: Creativity (National 4) units. When this unit is being taken as part of the National 4 Skills for Work Hairdressing course, it is recommended that, performance evidence for outcomes 1 and 2 of this unit is integrated with performance evidence for outcomes 2 and 3 of the Hairdressing: Salon Awareness (National 4) unit. The second and third learner reviews could be integrated with performance evidence for the Hairdressing: Working in the Salon (National 4) unit and the fourth learner review could be integrated with performance evidence for the Hairdressing: Creativity (National 4) unit. Assessor observation checklist and other assessment records should be maintained and kept up to date to keep track of learner progress and to provide evidence for internal and external moderation purposes. The ASP provided for this unit illustrates the standard that should be applied. It includes an assessor checklist for outcomes 1 and 2 and learner review sheets for outcome 3, which includes the specified employability skills. If a centre wishes to design its own assessments for this unit, they should be of a comparable standard. Opportunities for e-assessment E-assessment may be appropriate for some assessments in this unit. By e-assessment we mean assessment which is supported by Information and Communication Technology (ICT), such as e-testing or the use of e-portfolios or social software. Centres which wish to use e-assessment must ensure that the national standard is applied to all learner evidence and that conditions of assessment as specified in the evidence requirements are met, regardless of the mode of gathering evidence. The most up-to-date guidance on the use of e-assessment to support SQA s qualifications is available at www.sqa.org.uk/e-assessment. Opportunities for developing Core Skills In this unit, learners will develop skills valued by employers. Learners will carry out practical activities in the salon which will involve dealing with customers, listening, seeking advice, collecting and organising information from stylists, dealing with charges and handling payments. These are good opportunities for developing Core Skills in Communication, Working with Others and Numeracy. Learners will also be encouraged to take responsibility for improving their own performance through self-evaluation, taking feedback from others, setting goals for improvement, reflecting and evaluating. These are good opportunities for developing Core Skills in Communication and Problem Solving. The opportunity could be taken during this unit to emphasise that the employability skills and the relevant Core Skills indicated above, are skills that apply to a wide range of situations both in everyday life and in employment. This unit has the Working Co-operatively with Others component of Working with Others embedded in it. This means that when learners achieve the unit, their Core Skills profile will also be updated to show they have achieved Working Co-operatively with Others at SCQF level 4. August 2018, version 4.0 8
General information for learners Unit title: Hairdressing: Employability Skills (National 4) This section will help you decide whether this is the unit for you by explaining what the unit is about, what you should know or be able to do before you start, what you will need to do during the unit and opportunities for further learning and employment. This unit focuses on the employability skills identified by employers as being essential for working in the hairdressing industry. You will learn how to: Present yourself in a positive manner when communicating with others, including customers. How to work as a part of a team while carrying out salon tasks. Reflect on the skills you have developed and identify areas for improvement through feedback from colleagues. You do not need to have any previous qualifications or experience, but it would help if you have already finished, or are in the process of finishing, the following units: Hairdressing: Salon Awareness (National 4) Hairdressing: Working in the Salon (National 4) Hairdressing: Creativity (National 4) After you finish this unit, there may be opportunities to study other qualifications in this area, and/or further develop skills that will help in employment. August 2018, version 4.0 9
Administrative information Published: August 2018 (version 4.0) History of changes to national unit specification Version Description of change Date 4.0 Unit moved to a new template and re-coded to align with August 2018 corresponding course 2 code. No change to unit content. Core Skills component Working Co-operatively with Others at SCQF level 4 embedded. This specification may be reproduced in whole or in part for educational purposes provided that no profit is derived from reproduction and that, if reproduced in part, the source is acknowledged. Additional copies of this unit specification can be downloaded from SQA s website at www.sqa.org.uk. Note: You are advised to check SQA s website (www.sqa.org.uk) to ensure you are using the most up-to-date version of the unit specification. Scottish Qualifications Authority 2013, 2018 August 2018, version 4.0 10