Whanganui hairdressing teacher's 40-year career honoured with UCOL honorary fellowship award

Whanganui hairdressing educator Andrea Bullock received a UCOL honorary fellowship, their highest award, at the 2022 UCOL awards. Photo / Supplied

The 40-year career of Whanganui hairdressing teacher Andrea Bullock has been celebrated after she received UCOL's highest honour at its 2022 awards.

The honorary fellowship award was in recognition of a career where she was at the forefront of developing all of New Zealand's hairdressing qualifications, from trade to management, and helped shape the future of hairdressers across the country, according to UCOL chairwoman Verne Atmore.

Bullock said she first started teaching hairdressing at 21 when she was asked to manage apprentice classes at Whanganui Boys' College, which she said was rare for someone fresh out of school.

"When I first started, most of the other apprentices were older than I was."

She then moved to the Whanganui Regional Community College where she would stay as it transitioned into Whanganui Regional Community Polytechnic and later UCOL Whanganui, where she would later become the deputy principal.

Bullock also served as the chairwoman of the Hairdressing Industry Training Organisation's (HITO) qualifications advisory committee from 1994 to 2010.

She said receiving the award was a humbling experience, as her time as deputy principal had her on the other side of the awards events for many years.

"I used to be the one up there organising and doing all the speaking at those public events like that, so I felt very humbled to be on the receiving end after many years of standing up there representing UCOL."

She felt proud to have her family in attendance when she accepted the award, some of whom were surprised by her achievements.

"It was quite funny because some of my grandchildren were saying, nana we had no idea you'd done anything like that," she said.

Bullock said the biggest thing that had changed in hairdressing since she had started teaching was the introduction of apprenticeships and formal training, which she had a large role in introducing.

"Through that, there were curriculums developed and examinations to be held every year, and I think that's been huge really because it's set a national standard ... I think that's the key thing really if you gained a qualification, whether you got it in Auckland or in Invercargill, it would be consistent."

However, a reluctance toward apprenticeships was also hurting the industry today, she said.

Locally she said there were many salons in Whanganui, but she noted fewer people were training to become hairdressers today than in previous generations, which she said was due to a reluctance to the time investment needed to become qualified.

"Years ago people were lining up to become an apprentice, but that's actually becoming harder to get into because a lot of young ones now don't want to commit to the three to four years to become qualified," she said.

However, she noted this was true across many industries, not just hairdressing.

Historically, Whanganui has always been a strong region for hairdressing and for people making an impact on hairdressing nationally, according to Bullock.

She said this was due to a high amount of innovative people living in the city who have been involved with HITO and the New Zealand Association of Hairdressers, herself included.

"I think Whanganui has been very well served over the years with some very well-qualified people in those roles.

"I think we've always been one of the strongest regions for feedback and being proactive in New Zealand," she said.

Over her career, Bullock said the thing that gave her the strongest thrill was seeing her students reach their full potential.

"To see young students, or sometimes even those in second-chance education come in and fulfil their desire to actually improve themselves, that was the most heart-warming thing."