New beauty courses are launched to ensure therapists provide safe and lawful cosmetic treatments

We will now be offering Level 4 Certificates in Skin Peeling, Laser and Light Treatments, Skin Needling and Radio Frequency Treatments, as well as a Diploma in Advanced Aesthetic Treatments, which will cover all of the above units.

The latter is a part-time 36-week course with the others all taking place over a 12-week period, also on a part-time basis.

Courses will begin from September 2024 and an Online Information Evening will be held on Monday 8^th April from 6pm to 7pm. Places can be booked by clicking here

During the Information Evening, there will be a general introduction to York College and talks delivered by our Deputy Head of Beauty, Hair, Sports and Uniformed Protective Services Shelley Gledhill and a representative from the qualifications’ awarding body iTEC.

All the different course options will be discussed, as well as different study routes and funding possibilities, with an opportunity to ask questions.

In April 2022, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care was given the power to introduce a licensing regime for non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England following the introduction of the Health and Care Act.

Its purpose is to prevent the “significant damage” caused by insufficiently trained and licensed providers, which can often prove irreversible and lead to injuries as serious as third-degree burns.

Speaking about the importance of the legislation and College’s partnership with iTEC to ensure the region’s therapists have the essential skills and knowledge to safely carry out the newly-regulated treatments, Shelley said: “The legislation is to stop people who have not got the required quality and backgrounds from carrying out certain treatments, because it is causing damage to people.

“The situation, until now, has been that you only needed to do a one-day course in these procedures, which is an insult to the therapists who have been perfecting their skills over a number of years. The whole of the beauty industry has been campaigning for this legislation and, now, by getting a qualification from an awarding body, therapists will have the knowledge and understanding behind the treatment, how the systems of the body work and how the skin reacts so they can carry out the treatments safely.

“The courses are a minimum of 12 weeks and students have to carry out 12 case studies per treatment with a range of different reasons for the treatments and skin types. A qualified tutor will also be observing in the room to ensure they have that broad skillset before they go into the exam.

“An examiner from the awarding body then assesses them and they will be graded Pass, Merit and Distinction to show the level of skill that they are at. People need to be safe when they’re going out into the industry because, if they’re not, they could do significant harm to somebody like third-degree burns and the bodge jobs that we all see are often irreversible.

“This is the biggest reform of qualifications I have witnessed in the beauty industry during the 20 years I’ve worked in education and, as a college, we are really welcoming and championing them. It’s really exciting and an honour to be accredited to carry out these treatments to give everybody the qualifications they need to be able to trade.

“We are a Centre of Excellence and I want York College to be the biggest beauty provider in our region, if not the UK.”

The Advanced to Aesthetics course can be funded with an Advanced Learner Loan and all students must be a minimum age of 18 and already possess a Level 2 qualification in Skin Care.

As well as being fully trained, all of College’s tutors are also still actively working in the industry, carrying out treatments and constantly upskilling with the help of the department’s product brand BeautyLab.

With College now providing a post-16 Beauty pathway from Level 1 to Level 4, a fully-licensed route into the burgeoning profession has been established with Shelley adding: “Aesthetics is massive in the beauty industry.

“People aren’t necessarily wanting a normal relaxing facial anymore – they are wanting results, both females and males. They all want to look their best.”

For anybody out there who might be tempted by social media influencers promoting procedures that promise incredible results, Shelley also warned: “The legislation will be tight, but you still need to make sure that the person you are choosing is regulated and has an awarding body qualification so, if you are considering Botox or laser treatment, go to a clinic with a medical practitioner.”

A new Level 3 Nail Technology evening course for adults, meanwhile, will start in September, with further plans to introduce a Level 2 Nail Technology study programme and a Well-being and Holistic Apprenticeship, which intends to focus on the in-demand skills following consultation with the region’s spas and salons.

For more information on our Beauty courses for adults, please click here

Further details on our post-16 Beauty vocational courses can be found here

Read more about our Beauty Apprenticeship offering here