A guide to becoming a college beauty lecturer

Check out the latest beauty teaching jobs here.

The beauty industry is thriving. It covers a wide range of careers from beauty technicians and salon owners to theatrical makeup experts. The role of college beauty lecturer is a varied and rewarding role.

Common reasons for entering the profession cited by further education (FE) beauty lecturers in include having a personal passion for the subject, a desire to change career and wanting to work with a post-16 age group.

You will lead the way in making students industry-ready through their studies and will be expected to engage different learners through a range of teaching resources.

Highlighting the influence of the industry, research carried out in 2019 found that the UK beauty industry was worth £28.4bn. This equates to 1.3% of UK GDP.

Qualifications needed

Although in theory FE teachers do not need formal teaching qualifications, most beauty lecturer roles will require a degree or else an appropriate professional qualification at a minimum of Level 3. Teaching qualifications needed are a Cert Ed when following a vocational route or a PGSE for graduates.

“Management qualifications, while helpful, are generally not needed to gain a management post – often experience counts for more,” says Sarah.

Governing bodies, such as the British Association of Beauty Therapy & Cosmetology (BABTAC), requires you to have a Level 3 Award in Education and Training (PTLLS) qualification when signing up with them.

The BABTAC aims “to raise industry standards and ensure the ongoing wellbeing of the professionals working in it”.

Day in the life

Sarah Seaman, hair and beauty teacher at Barnsley College, explains that she “loved working in the industry but became passionate about making it better”. She underlines how you can make good use of transferrable skills, explaining the link

between hair and beauty and catering. “Both deal a lot with customer service, employability skills and retail.”

The FE environment is “exciting and challenging” due to the fact the you “want to do your best for every student”. She adds: “This year we had a 99% pass rate – it’s hard to beat that feeling that you have set these students up for life.”

Personal skills needed to be an FE beauty lecturer

Sarah says that it is very important to be a team player in this role. She also states that beneficial skills are to be “passionate, student-focused, motivated, enthusiastic and supportive – it’s the only way to get your team to work hard for you”.

Beauty teacher salaries in the UK

A qualified FE teacher can usually expect to earn anything between £24,702 and £37,258, depending on experience, while the average salary for a beauty lecturer in the UK stands at £30,132 or £15.45 per hour. Salaries vary depending on location and experience of the candidate with salaries ranging from £13,791 for entry-level positions to £47,775 for the most experienced lecturers.

Beauty teaching jobs can be found here.