Pivot Point Revolutionizes Barber Education with Fundamentals: BARBERING
It’s been almost 100 years since barbers had a new way to learn their craft. Pivot Point saw this as an opportunity to fully immerse itself into the world of barbering and ultimately challenge the status quo. The result is Pivot Point Fundamentals: Barbering.
It began with deep-dive research alongside barbers and cutting experts from around the world. A talented team of Pivot Point educators listened, watched, photographed and talked with barbering experts including Sofie Pok, Chris Foster and Anthony Giannotti, as they developed Pivot Point Fundamentals: Barbering.
With decades of knowledge in the world of beauty education, the Pivot Point barbering team knew that while techniques change, looks change and equipment changes, professional barbers still need a solid technical foundation presented in a way that allows them to pick up skills quickly and with proficiency. Plus, they must understand how to stay relevant to what’s happening in today’s barbershop.
Client Demands Require New Ways to Learn
“We wanted to be sure that when we provided barbering education, it would totally surpass the expectations of the barbering community,” said Jennifer Eckstein, Pivot Point Sr. Director, Global Marketing & Business Development “Because barbering education had not been thought of differently in more nearly 100 years,” she added, “Pivot Point’s focus is on the success of today’s generation of barbers, schools and the success of barbershop owners everywhere.”
Part of the reason for the need for a new way to teach and learn barbering is that today’s client expectations of barbers and barbershops have changed. Clients have many options to choose from and client loyalty is a sought-after prize. Clients are savvier and have access to the same information as their barber. Clients also expect to feel pampered and cared for during the service, and most importantly, they expect to look good and be able to create the same look at home.
The New Way – Teach the Techniques, Elevate Future Barbers
Among the insights incorporated into Pivot Point Fundamentals: Barbering was the realization that while barbering is a craft designed to cut, dress, groom, trim, style and shave; it is also an art form and culture that strives for perfection, artistry, individualism and technique, all of which can be challenging to those wanting to learn barbering.
Compared to traditional education programs, Fundamentals: Barbering is designed for 21st-century learning, and learners. It was developed with the brain of the learner, along with the client and the salon in mind. Fundamentals: Barbering is brain-compatible, learner and client-centred and salon relevant. It promotes exploration, engagement, experience, and expansion of learning for future use.
“Fundamentals: Barbering teaches the techniques that serve today’s barber,” notes Sabine Held Perez, Senior Director of Education Innovation. “We’re teaching techniques that become the building blocks to create infinite amounts of styles. Trends change and the client’s needs change, but as long as you have the building blocks of success, you can be a successful barber.”
What’s more, the program helps build the learner’s self-esteem, so they can connect their skills to what will be expected in the barbershop. Ultimately, learners will know how to be resourceful and creative in finding ways to make things work in their lives and their businesses.
“Pivot Point Fundamentals: Barbering is very different from existing programs,” adds Ms. Eckstein. “Yes, it is designed for successful licensure pass rates and entry-level proficiency. But beyond that, Pivot Point has focused the program on providing meaning and relevance—the personal, emotional parts of learning that make it stick in the minds of the learners. We want to help strengthen their retention and deepen their connection to the topics. We’ve not only accomplished this through the instructional design but also through the graphic design (page layout, photography and packaging) of the program.”
Fundamentals: Barbering covers a unified library of areas of study, including life skills, science, business education, client-centred design, foundational cuts, tapered cuts and fades, style, shaving, beard design and much more.
Pivot Point President/CEO Robert Passage concludes “our mission, since my father founded Pivot Point International, has always been to foster the growth of sustainable hair and beauty careers. With the launch of Pivot Point Fundamentals: Barbering students will learn through contemporary, relevant and technique-driven content, sure to help propel them in their future profession as a barber.”