New Zealand Certificate in Hairdressing

This qualification leads to the New Zealand Certificate in Hairdressing (Professional Hairstylist) (Level 4). Full time study starting 2025.

Graduates may be employed as a junior or assistant stylist in a hairdressing salon

Entry requirements

• 10 credits at NCEA Level 1 in both literacy and numeracy
• Three years’ minimum secondary education
• Preferred school subjects include Science, Maths, English and Art. Other desirable skills include communication and customer service skills
• Desire to work in the hairdressing industry
• Applicants over the age of 20 years at time of enrolment will be considered where they can demonstrate the ability to succeed in a programme.

English Language Requirements

Applicants, whose first language is not English, or who come from a country where the language of instruction in schools is not English, are required to provide evidence of having achieved one of the following

NCEA Level 3 with University Entrance, or

an International Baccalaureate Diploma or Cambridge A- level qualification for which the teaching and assessment was conducted in English; or

Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA),or Trinity College London Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CertTESOL);or

Successful completion of all primary education (being the equivalent of New Zealand primary school years 1 to 8) and at least three years of secondary education (being the equivalent of three years from New Zealand secondary school years 9 to 13) at schools in either New Zealand,,Australia,Canada, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States one of the countries listed in Rule 18.5 where the student was taught using English as the language of instruction; or

Successful completion of at least five years of secondary education (being the equivalent of New Zealand secondary school years 9 to 13) at schools in either New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States where the student was taught using English as the language of instruction; or

Successful completion of a Bachelor's Degree, Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, Bachelor Honours degree, Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma, Masters' Degree or Doctoral Degree, the language of instruction of which must be in English and which must be from a tertiary education provider from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom or the United States or

Successful completion of one of the following internationally recognised proficiency tests listed below to the level required of the programme of study and with all scores achieved in a single test during the two years preceding the proposed date of enrolment

IELTS test - General or Academic score of 5 with no band score lower than 5 
TOEFL Paper based test (pBT) - Score of 500 (with an essay score of 4 TWE) 
TOEFL Internet based test (iBT) - Score of 35 (with a writing score of 14) 
Cambridge English Examination - B2 First or B2 First for schools with a score of 154. No less than 154 in each skill. 
OET - Minimum of Grade C or 200 in all sub-tests 
NZCEL - a) Expiring Level b) Current: a) Level 3 (General) or (Workplace) b) Level 3 (General) 
Pearson Test of English (Academic) - PTE (Academic) score of 36 with no band score lower than 36 
Language Cert - B1 Achiever International ESOL Written (LRW) PASS with no less than 25/50 in each skill and Spoken (S) PASS
Trinity ISE - ISE I with no less than distinction in any band

* New versions of some NZCEL qualifications, and in some cases new qualifications, were published on 13 June 2017. These are intended to replace pre-existing versions and qualifications, which have been given expiring status until discontinued on 31 December 2019. (a) denotes expiring (b) denotes current

Direct Material costs includes a full hairdressing kit containing:

• Cloud9 Straightners
• Blowdryer
• Curling tongs
• Brushes/combs
• Tint bowl and Brush
• Two manikins (long and short hair)
• Salon uniform

For students to be considered to have satisfactorily completed this programme, and to be awarded the New Zealand Certificate in Hairdressing Salon Support (Level 3), they must have:

• Completed required practical and theoretical course work and assignments.
• Achieved all of the graduate outcomes in the graduate profile showing competence to a minimum of 120 credits

(Please note; students failing to attend for 80% of timetabled programme hours may forfeit zero fees entitlement)