College News

Parow Campus - “I don't think I realized the impact World Skills had on me while I was in Japan . Only now I can sit back and reflect on so many impressions and experiences - some personal, some emotional and some professional”, says Riana Stemmet, Programme Manager and lecturer in the Haircare department at Northlink College.

Riana, the only judge from South Africa and Michelle Liebenberg, Haircare student at the Parow campus, was chosen to attend the 39 th Annual World Skills Competition in Japan . Michelle was one of six South African students selected to represent the country. “It was a great honour to me to be part of the World Skills team 2007. This was an indescribable life experience”, says Michelle. “From the beginning I was 100% committed. We worked with excellent product houses such as Goldwell, Wella and Schwarzkopf. They were very supportive and did not hesitate to sponsor us.”

Riana says one thing that will stay with her is that she, as a South African, is very proud of her nationality. The reason why: In Japan, 95% of all people living there, is Japanese – thus it was almost a culture shock to hear and read only Japanese and be exposed to a “one-way-of-doing-things”. “It almost feels complicated to be a South African: I speak Afrikaans, but mainly communicates in English. I love South Africa , but have to travel to sustain that. At Northlink we encourage unity, but now I cannot wait to also encourage a bigger awareness of embracing differences.”

Hair Care student Michelle Liebenberg (left) and
Riana Stemmet, Programme Manager: Haircare, from Northlink College
at the 39 th Annual World Skills competition in Japan .

“I had the opportunity of spending at least ten days with the experts (that have the same passion and vision than I have) from all over the world. It is fulfilling in itself to meet people from different countries (22 countries for Hairdressing participated), and to be able to share views, knowledge and ideas – that makes World Skills the best exchange platform I know”, says Riana.

Every country has different traits and ways of training their competitors, but there are quite a number of things they all have in common.

The biggest or most important part of any competition / project is how well you have done your preparation as a whole.

All competitors and experts went through formal Hairdressing training- at school/ college and an apprenticeship / learnership in their country.
Talent alone is not enough – commitment, dedication and hard work are key elements for every competitor.
The emotional preparation for each candidate is as important as to prepare him / her for the actual Hairdressing skill.
Countries that have been either winning or received a medal of achievement start World Skills training at least two years in advance.
Word Skills training or competition training is part of the curriculum of most of the countries.
The skills needed to be a World Skills competitor is normal, commercial skills – with extra focus on certain areas.
World Skills are promoted under the young people in most of the countries, thus it becomes part of their career-dream to be a World Skills Competitor.
The governments as well as corporate companies are partners in World Skills by supporting and making resources available for not only the training of competitors, but education and training as a whole. They believe that education and training is the foundation for World Skills and that World Skills is the platform to present their country's standard of education and training.
“Time” is one of the biggest skills any competitor and professional hairdresser must manage, and therefore the rules of World Skills make the time factor very challenging.
The competitor cannot only be “competition fit”, but must be work / skill fit too. The 8 sections over 22 hours is extremely tough on the competitors – it is more than any Hairdressing World Championship requires.
Competitors must also be trained to expect the unknown in his / her skills and still produce the correct end result. The rule for Hairdressing is that 30% of the Test Project must change. The competitor had to reproduce a style from a picture they have never seen before in the little time available.
World Skills also provides countries to see other countries' projects and making it possible to learn and implement new ideas when returning home.
Competitors also had to cope with circumstances beyond their control, like different weather conditions, unknown food, jet lag and language barriers. These kind of unforeseen circumstances establish an environment for character building and are an important part of our training and education of Life Skills.

Michelle Liebenberg (thus South Africa ) came 15 th out of 22 countries that participated in the hairdressing category. On the Competition Information System (CIS), Michelle achieved a score of 488 / 600 – the highest score ever achieved by South Africa in the hairdressing category.

Great news is that the prescribed competition work, Unit Standard Level 4 Competition Techniques, now forms part of Northlink's haircare course. “So on ground level, we're already experiencing what we ploughed back into our students”, says Riana, enthusiastic as always. “I f we, the small group of experts and competitors, can implement the knowledge and experience gained at the competition to every industry involved, I do believe the impact is going to be visible in raising the standard of education and training and the general practices of each skill.”

According to Riana, it might be a long road to raising the standard successfully (where the consumer can identify with it), but she feels that the best time is NOW. “Skills training and especially Hairdressing is a sought after career. Adding value to the future of our young generations will ensure that they will start dreaming, and more importantly plan for reaching their dreams.”

Special thanks to Goldwell, Schwarzkopf, Wella, Martin Bingham, EOHCB and everyone that has contributed to Northlink's success in Japan .

Mostly, thanks to the Services SETA, for believing in the Hairdressing Industry and its extremely talented young people. Northlink were honored to be part of World Skills 2007!