Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the Insync Insurance Podcast. I'm your host, Dawn Cross, and today we'll be chatting in depth about teacher training for beauty educators with returning guest Rhian Door, Director of Sunshine Training and Accreditation.
If you enjoy our podcast, make sure to leave a rating on your favourite podcast directory.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: Well, brilliant. Thank you for coming on yet again, Rhian. It's really nice to see you on the podcast once more.
[00:00:26] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm excited to be back.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: It's always intriguing and informative when you go on the podcast.
Well, obviously we've had you for quite a few times, but for anyone who has not listened to this podcast before and is just coming across us now, could you do a brief introduction into who you are and how you've got to hear?
[00:00:48] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. So my name's Rhian Dore, formerly known as Knowles.
I am the owner and director of Sunshine Training, but I also own Sunshine Accreditation and Sunshine Equipment.
And we, as dawn has said, I've been on quite a few times before.
My main focus and role within the industry is to help raise educational standards and bring that little bit extra to the industry.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: I did say recently, actually that you have kind of merged everything together, haven't you? You've become a limited company.
[00:01:28] Speaker C: Yeah.
Oh, thank you. Yeah, that was, that was a long time coming.
So, yeah, we've just, in September launched as a limited company, which is a huge milestone for not only the company, but also me. So, yeah, we're known as Sunshine Official Limited now across all social media. So it just makes it more user friendly and people couldn't just find us through any platform using Sunshine Official Limited. So, yes, nice and good.
[00:02:00] Speaker B: Amazing. So obviously you, you guys do a range of things. You said, you know, you had the equipment, you had the training, you obviously help with teacher training, which is something a lot of community educators are needing nowadays because if they want to obviously pass on their knowledge, their techniques, it's in hair and nails aesthetics, you name it, they need to be having a teacher qualification. So could you tell me a little bit more about what Sunshine offers?
[00:02:25] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. So Sunshine is a slightly different company to most in the industry.
So we believe it or not, we were the first ones to offer accredited level 3 AETs back in 2017.
So when you look back, you think, wow, don't you? Like, that's a long time and we've helped so many professionals along the way.
So what that looks like for you guys? So, you know, you can do an off grant, sorry, you can do an accredited teaching qualification. That is absolutely fine. If you're just looking to deliver short accredited courses, but to marry up with that. And for people wanting to upskill and go to the higher sort of level of education, we also do ofcorps regulated teaching qualifications as well.
So we've just changed providers as well. So this has come in really handy, actually, dawn, we've moved providers. We're now with Focus Awards, which is more nationally recognized and it means we can offer a lot more support and we can just offer a lot more courses within that scope. So it was a more business decision as well.
But in terms of like getting into teaching, there's quite a lot of information out there. But if anyone is looking to get into education, not just training, assessing internal quality assurance, level five, level four teaching, then I can help you.
Just find us on social media or just drop us a line or you can go on our website and all the information's on there.
[00:04:07] Speaker B: I think, you know what would be really great is obviously, you know, some people are like, well, you know, teachings like, well, just show someone how to do it.
Look, look, if it's good enough, not and be like, yes or no, you need to improve the techniques. So what does the teacher training bring that isn't just showing people how to do things and then correcting them where they go? Because obviously some people may think it's not, you know, beneficial to take on the extra qualification in order to teach others.
[00:04:34] Speaker C: Oh, right, yes. So teach it. Yeah. So this. That's such a really good question. So the teacher training course isn't just a case of going and training people or just writing a manual.
If you take the correct course, there are many out there. If you take the correct course, it will teach you so much more than that. It will get you logically thinking. It's going to teach you about equality and diversity. It's going to teach you about the different learning approaches, learning styles, how to meet the individual needs of learners.
And just to Clarify, the Level 3 is like a foundational level for teaching.
So the higher you go, so like level four, level five, the more you learn and the more you can adapt your own knowledge and your skills. I know of people that take the teacher training course not because they want to necessarily teach, but they want that extra knowledge on how they can support learners. So you don't necessarily have to teach to have the qualification.
You can have it even if you want to mentor someone because you're going to understand more about their individual learning needs and, yeah, just how you can help them as a person as well. It's not just about as dawn, you said, you know, rocking up and training someone or writing a manual. It is actually so much more than that.
No, like so much.
[00:06:06] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think as well, like, it's beneficial because if you're, you know, maybe someone who's like, pushing themselves out of their comfort zones, you know, they're not used to interacting with other students and, and kind of being like, right now, everyone needs to follow and watch me. It's a little bit daunting and I'm sure with any sort of course it will really help just build up that confidence in order to be able to pass on the correct techniques, make sure everyone's doing a good job and helping train a really great next cohort of beauty practitioners.
[00:06:35] Speaker C: Absolutely. One of the sort of questions I always get asked when people approach me for doing the teacher training is, is actually the practical element. So the micro teach.
And people will ask me like, they'll get really flustered and be like, but I might stumble, I'm nervous. And I'll say to them straight, I am not looking at you as a person. It is completely normal to be flustered. It is completely normal to forget where you are. That is new. It's a new thing. What I'm actually looking at is how you assess your learner, how you question them on the knowledge you're teaching them. Do you see what I mean? So I'm not actually looking at you as a person. I'm looking at your body language and your questioning and your way and your learning and teaching approach that you've chosen for that learner. And are they embedding what you're telling them? That's the main basis of teaching.
It's not about showing up and being confident and all of that. It's actually about your learner. And are they actually taking on the information you're giving them? I think that's a really important key to add in there. When you're looking to be a trainer, you might be the world's best nail tech, but that doesn't mean you can teach. And I always say that.
I think you've. When you're, a trainer, you've always got to have an open mind. You've always got to be open to learning more, absorbing as much information you can, looking, you know, to do more CPD and just really going above and beyond to expand your knowledge base. I've been doing this for 12, 13 years and I'm still enrolling on training courses, webinars, everything to better myself so I can better my learners. And that's what you always do when you're in the teaching role. It is like almost like a requirement to be continually updating your professional development.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: Exactly. I think as well, you know, for any practitioners that are out there, even if you aren't a teacher, it's always good to keep that learning process going because there's new techniques, there's new tools out, you know, there's going to be like new sorts of cosmetic treatments and stuff like that. And then the Japanese head spa has become quite recently, like very popular in the uk. So it's like, although it seems very minuscule, you still technically need to train to learn how that all works. And you know, obviously working with the trend and you know, everyone really would love a nice spa day for their scalp, so in everyone's favors and yeah.
[00:09:14] Speaker C: I think from a vocational point of view, because we're obviously in a vocational industry, it's very important that people keep up with cpd.
CPD is huge thing within our vacational industry, our backgrounds and everything. So you are right, regardless of whether you want to be a trainer or not, it's still good to keep in with up to date trends and legislations because they change a lot.
And just knowing that you're doing the most up practices, really, you know, like you're keeping up to date with the practices.
So just off of that, Sunshine has actually launched within the student portals. If you don't have one, you can have one for free, but we have actually launched a load of quizzes and games for people to keep up to date with legislations, insurances and just code of conduct, safe practices, those sorts of things. So they're readily available. You just go on, make an account and you can do it. So that's part of keeping up with your CPD as well. So and you don't have to be a trainer or a student advisor, you can just go on and do it. It's readily available through for anyone in the industry or out the industry, just anyone that's looking to update really.
[00:10:31] Speaker B: Now that sounds very amazing as well because, you know, I think just like trying to Google stuff on the Internet isn't always as easy just to be able to keep up to date with legislation specifically because, you know, it's very legal jargon, not everyone's going to have that headset. Headset. I barely have the headset to understand academic writing personally. Yeah, Reading lawyers writing and government writing is a bit like, oh my. Yeah. But like, what does it mean for me? So to have that resource is absolutely amazing. And you massive kudos for that because, you know, thanks. Like the free stuff is just really useful when, you know, if you can't necessarily afford to go on to do some actual training, you know, finding those freebies I think is really key for everybody and yeah, that's absolutely amazing.
[00:11:14] Speaker C: Yeah. So we've also done it because obviously we know there's lots of barriers to entry in our industry, but the main reason and the mindset around making it for free is because it's, it should be ready, available information that every practitioner, regardless of your role, should know.
And because obviously we've touched before on previous podcasts. Education isn't where it should be with the standards.
I believe this is our way of giving back to the industry for those training providers that haven't provided it essentially, if that makes sense. So we're, we're just giving back to the industry. There's loads more where that come from. There's going to be many more podcasts on stuff that we've got planned. But yeah, I think it is really important to give back to the industry, definitely.
[00:12:03] Speaker B: So now I'm going to flip the script. So for anyone who has trained as an educator or a teacher, I believe in 2026 you are looking for those to help fill those roles, to help teach the, the next lot of people you want to certify. And I think that's in aesthetics. Hair, nails, like anything beauty wise.
[00:12:22] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So you might have seen or you might not have seen, we're doing a massive social media campaign for educators in 2026.
So the main focus around this is we've built our training systems to be absolutely fantastic and now we are on the lookout for educators to help and support them grow into successful training academies.
Not only will you get the portal, so we call it LMS with all the benefits you can get, training materials that we can brand to you, we give you the accreditation as well, all for one fee.
But you also get access to me on a one to one basis where you can pick my brain, you can ask me as much as you want.
And we, yeah, we just work as a community.
We have a little group with all of the academies currently in and I go in there and we do loads and loads of activities.
There's loads of things that we do, so the support is kind of endless and, and we've kind of designed it around our own niche and there's not, there's nothing like it in industry right now. So 2026, I really want to go big and big and proud with it, because I think it's worth shouting about, like, what we do.
And then as part of that, we also have our own, as dawn mentioned, we have our own equipment business.
So we can also help you with affordable kits for your students where you get kickback. And yeah, there's loads of different things out there, so definitely look on our website for more information.
Our social media, there's loads of stuff on there about it and reach out to either myself or dawn and we'll point you in the right direction.
[00:14:08] Speaker B: I think what's really key from that as well is that, you know, if you want to start off, you know, teaching maybe a couple people, you want to start academy having that support from yourselves, you know, especially, you know, the years of experience you have, I think is what makes it really different as well, is that, you know, you're not on your own. So if there's something you come across as a problem or competition or, you know, the students post a really good question, you have no what the answer is, you've got that support from yourselves to then be like, you know, oh, we can find out this for you and make sure that, you know, everyone's accredited. Okay? And whereas. But, you know, before, or like, well, now really is that, you know, sometimes you do golf on your own, you get trained, but then there's not necessarily much for support network where you might be able to talk to some people about the training aspects, but then they may not know about the nail techniques you're helping teach and, you know, to be had. Be able to have. That is amazing.
[00:14:59] Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. And that was kind of the whole ethos of the business model.
And just to quickly point out what you mentioned about, it doesn't matter how many, like, students you have, so we've got different packages to suit every business as well.
Um, and 2026 is going to be a huge year because we've got loads planned, we've got loads coming out. So, yeah, we just want to really help and support. So my main focus for 2026 is to support and help as many academies as we can get there, and then hopefully they can then come on and share their success stories with you as well, dawn, which would be really good as well.
[00:15:39] Speaker B: No, that would be absolutely amazing. So I think my last question for you today is, you know, what would you like to add to all of this? You know, there's a lot of information for people, but if you can solidify it in, like, 30 seconds, what would you say?
[00:15:52] Speaker C: I'm never really good at solidifying information we both know that.
So my main thing would be if you're looking to get into teacher training, contact me.
Equally, if you're looking just to upskill on ptpd, go on the Sunshine Training website. There's loads of free resources on there.
Or if you want in my support to become an academy, reach out. That's my main thing that I would say is go check us out on social media. Dawn will tag it in the podcast, so it's at Sunshine Official Limited on every platform. Check us out and yeah, just come and talk to me, I'm here, I'm approachable. And yeah, I would look forward to hearing from everyone.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today and talking to us about everything.
[00:16:45] Speaker C: Yeah, no worries. Thank you for having me.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: Thank you to my guest today, Rhian, for chatting about beauty educators and teacher training. Essential for anyone who wants to become an educator in their field.
[00:16:57] Speaker B: If you'd like to know more about.
[00:16:58] Speaker A: Her training, please click the link in the description.
I have been your host, Dawn Cross, and tune in next week for another episode.
Insync is one of the UK's fastest growing insurance providers, offering comprehensive cover for SMEs and self employed across the UK.
Our expert team can tailor your insurance to meet your individual business needs and compare prices from our Lloyds of London approved partners. We offer a free 5 star service and have been FIFO Platinum trusted winners 6 years in a row.
