Alison Barradell, 47, from Loughborough, has just spent more than a year as a part-time hairdressing lecturer at Nottingham New college. She says the hours are unpredictable, but the work fits in well with her main job.
She runs her own salon at East Midlands airport in Nottingham and has inspected other colleges’ departments of hairdressing and beauty for Ofsted.
After teaching part-time for a term at Derby college, she became an Ofsted inspector and then joined Nottingham New college’s school of hair, beauty and floristry in January last year.
She works three days a week at the college. She says: “Working for Ofsted and in my own salon I am aware of industry requirements but I also work at the chalk face.”
An FE teacher for more than 16 years, Ms Barradell was formerly head of hair, beauty and holistic therapies at Stephenson college, Leicestershire, but left in August 2002 because she was a “demoralised middle-manager”.
