News story

Virtual College and Bradford College create ‘cut above’ hairdressing learning resources for Jisc

ILkleyLearning NewsVirtual College

Virtual College has partnered with Bradford College to develop innovative and engaging digital resources for the free of charge Hairdressing Training service from Jisc, the digital services and solutions organisation for UK education and research..

Screen shot from the new resources
Screen shot from the new resources 

These include videos, step-by-step guides and assessment activities. The resources cover subjects from cutting to colouring, reception and salon duties.

Online learning provider Virtual College worked with subject expert, Jackie Sharp, Lecturer in Hairdressing and Teaching and Learning Development Coach from Bradford College, to develop these digital learning resources.

They have been created to support hairdressing tutors and their students either through tutor-led or independent learning and are accessible from the ‘Hairdressing Training’ site, which was relaunched in June 2016. They are mapped to the current NVQ and SVQ Hairdressing and Barbering Qualifications. 

Virtual College managed the project using its experience in online learning to partner with Bradford College who also provided the models, hairdressers and training salon used in developing the resources.

Hannah Brindle, Virtual College’s Director of Growth & Innovation, commented: “This was a really exciting project to win, drawing upon our skills in working with partners like Bradford College to develop digital resources which meet bespoke requirements.”

Bradford College’s CEO, Andy Welsh, added: “As one of the UK’s leading colleges, with a host of career-focussed courses, we are committed to transforming the learner experience, using new styles of learning which embrace cutting edge technologies such as those provided by Virtual College.”

Karla Youngs, Head of Digital Content Services for FE & Skills at Jisc said “Virtual College offered us the best chance of delivering engaging and interactive learning resources, enabling the content to stand the test of time until the next update to the National Occupation Standards.

“I’m really pleased with the resources that are now available and anticipate them being used by a large number of students and their tutors.”

Further information is available at: http://hairdressing.jisc.ac.uk/.

About Bradford College

Bradford College is an award-winning further and higher education institution based in Bradford city centre.

The college has a strong professional and vocational focus. The huge variety of courses on offer ranges from academic courses, science and ‘A’ Levels to the service industries, construction crafts, early years, arts and media, computing and sport.

The further education student body is more than 20,000 strong and the centre itself has recently undergone a multi-million pound state-of-the-art renovation in order to provide its students with the best possible facilities.

Further information is available at: https://www.bradfordcollege.ac.uk/.

About Jisc

Jisc is the UK higher, further education and skills sectors’ not-for-profit organisation for digital services and solutions.  

We operate:

  • shared digital infrastructure and services
  • negotiate sector-wide deals with IT vendors and commercial publishers and 
  • provide trusted advice and practical assistance for universities, colleges and learning providers.

Further information is available at: www.jisc.ac.uk or via the press team on [email protected].