DEVELOPMENT OF HAIRDRESSING CURRICULUM FOR INTEGRATION INTO HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION PROGRAMME OF UNIVERSITIES IN THE SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

The major purpose of this study was to develop hairdressing curriculum for integration into Home Economics Education programme of universities in the South-East, Nigeria. Specifically, the study determined the: instructional objectives to be integrated; content (knowledge, skills and attitudes) in hairdressing; instructional methods that could be adopted in teaching; instructional materials/media to be utilized in teaching hairdressing; evaluation activities that could be employed in teaching hairdressing; developed a draft hairdressing curriculum (HDC), validated the draft HDC, revised the hairdressing curriculum based on the inputs from the validates and determined how effectiveness of the developed hairdressing curriculum. The study adopted the research and development design (R & D). It was carried out into five major phases: phase I – collection of data using hairdressing questionnaire (HDQ), phase II – development of hairdressing curriculum based on the objectives, content, delivery systems and evaluation activities, phase III – validation of the draft of hairdressing curriculum by experts, phase IV – assessment of the draft hairdressing curriculum using hairdressing test (HDT) and phase V: revision of HDC based on information from phase III and IV.  The  population  was  made  up  of  5057  hairdressing  respondents  comprising  of  32  Home Economics lecturers, 4900 hairdressers and 125 final year Home Economics students. 400 hairdressers were purposively selected. No sample for final year Home Economics students and Home Economics lecturers. Four sets of instruments were utilized for data collection. HDQ was face validated by three experts from University of Nigeria, Nsukka. HDQ was tried out and the result obtained was used for the computation of reliability coefficient using Cronbach alpha. The following coefficients were obtained for each of the clusters: cluster B = 0.95, cluster C = 0.97, cluster D =0.93, cluster D(m/m) = 0.88 and cluster E = 0.94. The draft of HDC developed was validated by experts namely: three hairdressers, three Home Economics lecturers and three curriculum experts. Mean was used to analyze research questions 1 to 5, ANOVA was used to analyze hypotheses 1 to 5 while ANCOVA was used to analyze research question 6. The findings included 34 objectives, 68 item content (knowledge, skills and attitudes), 45 delivery systems (23 instructional methods and 22 instructional materials/media) and 29 evaluation activities for assessing the attainment of HDC. There were no significant differences in the mean responses of hairdressers, final year Home Economics students and Home Economics lecturers on the hypotheses tested. Based on the findings, it  was  recommended  among  others  that  (1)  Home  Economics  students  should  be  adequately exposed to learning experiences identified in this study to enable them to be self employed; (2) Curriculum planners should utilize the objectives, content, instructional methods, instructional materials/media and evaluation activities identified in this study for reviewing and re-planning the curriculum; (3) Textbooks and other instructional materials should be developed and made available to further assist the students understanding; (4) There is the need that hairdressing curriculum be included into Home Economics education because of the new reforms in education and (5) students should form saving habit while in school for starting up hairdressing business units after graduation.

CHAPTER ONE

Background of the Study

INTRODUCTION

Human body, apart from the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and fine vellus hair. The hair is one of the greatest assets of an individual. Jackson (1990) views it as a marvelous tool with which an individual can express her sexuality and how she feels about herself. The hair is an outgrowth of filamentous cells, containing keratin that grows from the follicles found in the dermis. The development of hair begins in the third month of full fetal life and is started by the down growth of thickened cells of the epidermis into the underlying dermis and connective tissue. According to Ross and Wilson (2001), the hair is as a result of a multiplication of cells that clump together to produce a papilla at the base of the follicle. Constantly dividing, these cells push upwards towards the surface, becoming impregnated with the protein keratin, to form the hair shaft. Jablonski (2006) informed that the hair shaft in cross-section can be divided roughly into three zones under the cuticle, cortex and medulla. The cuticle protects the inner structure of the hair which consists of several layers of flat, thin cells laid out like roof singles. The cortex is responsible for providing hair its structure which contains the keratin bundles in cell structures that remain roughly rod like. The medulla is for hair elasticity and open area at the fibre centre.

Apart from the structure of the hair, it is imperative to know how it functions. Hair performs various functions. Hair is for physical and psychological protection, adornment, modesty and immodesty reasons. Physically, just as eyelashes keep dirt and grit out of the eyes and eyebrows also prevent perspiration from entering the eyes, so do hair on the head protects the scalp from the sun, prevents direct knocks on the head and helps to retain body heat (Winden, 2010). Body heat is lost through the scalp and wearing hair can help reduce this loss, particularly in very cold weather. Hair is equally arranged for personal adornment. Hair is kept for beauty sake. Hair tension released from the head transfers to the face, making one uglier (Daniel, 2010). Hair allows one to express his/her unique personality. A moderate and well-styled hair to the nape of the neck, trimmed to flatter the shape of the head enhances ones modest look. Hair is also kept to show immodesty. Certain individuals wear revealing hairstyles as bobbed hair,  long flowing jocks, bears, afro-like, chest or shoulder hairs for sexual attraction and wild looking extremes.

The knowledge of the hair help to understand what care one should always give to the hair. The hair must be properly cared for to maintain a healthy living. Olaitan and Mbah (1998) believe that one is very beautiful w1hen his/her hair is well cared for. A lot of care is

needed for one’s hair to  be healthy, silky and  lustrous. Sarojini (2006) opines that  to maintain the hair, good nutrition, rest, right sleep and other details of healthy living should be maintained. Cobb (2001) also explains that for hair to be well cared for, a healthy supply of fruits and vegetables, whole grain and foods rich in calcium and protein are not only appealing but also highly nutritious. Taking care of ones hair, restores colour, increases hair density, regains elasticity of the scalp, increases self-confidence of people and this can be done through dressing the hair appropriately.

Hairdressing is the art of arranging the hair to modify its natural state (Jablonski,

2006). It is an important part of dressing up. Dressing of the hair can be considered as an aspect   of  personal  grooming,   cosmetics  and   fashion.   Personal  grooming   involves shampooing the hair to dissolve grease and dirt. It involves taking good care of the body to be healthy. Jablonski (2006) states that personal grooming depends on how the body is operating internally, the vitamin and mineral levels, low toxicity and general dietary efficiency. Cosmetics/hairstyling products are products for styling hair. According to Jablonski (2006), these styling products can create major changes in the hair volume. They transform the hair vigorously from frizzy to flat, coarse to soft, thin to thick. The common styling products that are widely used are shampoos, conditioners, gel, hairsprays, mousse, lotion,  hair  colour,  wax/pomade/creams among  others.  Many factors can  influence the methods of dressing or styling the hair and these are personality/lifestyle, face shapes, overall body proportions, head shapes, hair density and hair type.

Hairdressing is a very lucrative business that enables one to be self employed . This is because it  involves a lot of skills that sustain one for life. Skill is the ability of an individual to use knowledge effectively and readily in performance at different activities (Ohwovriole, 2004). It also involves the ability to transform knowledge into action. Therefore, certain skills must be possessed by hairdressers to enable them stand out as hair stylists in the labour market. According to Okorie (2000) hairdressing skills include the ability to determine: the right hair texture, right relaxer, the time to relax the hair, various hairstyles and manipulation of the hair dryer and other equipment for adorning the hair.

Other skills include:

–          Carrying out washing of the hair with suitable shampoo and conditioner

–          Fixing suitable hair attachments

–          Cleaning and restyling of wigs

–          Selecting correct hair combs and brushes

–          Dividing the hair into sections and rough plaiting it.

–          Adding ornaments to the hair

–          Handling complaints with empathy, tact, poise, among others.

Hairdressing is usually carried out by hairdressers. Hairdressers are those who style hair to earn a living. They apply different methods and utilize different materials/equipment in dressing the  hair. The  hairdressing methods include treatment of hair,  brushing and combing, plaiting and braiding. Other methods of hairdressing according to David (2004) are hair washing and drying, barbing (hair cutting), hair braiding, perming, hair weaving/extensions, colouring, permanent relaxing, curling and any other form of styling or texturing. Barbing (haircutting) is intended to trim uneven end of the hair to a uniform length to completely shaving head. Hair braiding aims at keeping the braids up without pulling at the hair roots. Perming (temporary or permanent) creates a style in the existing hair which reforms hair into its new, curlier shape. Hair weaving/extensions is the process of attaching normal human hair with additional synthetic or human extensions. Colouring hair is used to achieve a natural effect on hair and to overcome the negative image of aging. Permanent relaxing or hair straightening leaves the hair fibre in a high degree of twisting, and a slightly wavy look. Curling hair simply means permanent waving or perming to reduce the chances of weakening hair. All the methods require the use of materials and equipment.

However, basic hairdressing materials include combs, brushes, mirrors, towels, plaiting thread (Olaitan and Mbah, 1998). It also includes functional and decorative ornaments   (ribbons,   headbands,   beads,   rubber   bands).   Other   complex   hairstyling equipments according  to  Dalton (1995)  include  hair  irons  (including  flat,  curling  and crimping irons), hairdryers and hair rollers. Hairdryer generates heat as the current passes through it to dry wet hair. It also contains a safety device that stops fire from occurring. These tools/equipments need a lot of skills in handling them and these must be taught the Home Economics students if they are to be properly trained.

Presently, there are new reforms in Nigerian education where trade subjects like cosmetology have  just  been  introduced. Hair  dressing  is  included  in  the  trade subject Cosmetology which is a new subject in the Senior Secondary School curriculum at the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and National Examination Council (NECO). In order to prepare teachers to teach this area of Home Economics, adequate training should be carried out at the university level where teachers for secondary schools are trained. There is no curriculum to teach this trade subject.

Curriculum is an educational tool for achieving the desired objective. Thus, it aims at the total educational development of the individual through the acquisition of skills, knowledge and attitudes. One basic view is that curriculum is “what is taught” (Squires,

1990). Eneogwe (1996) refers to curriculum as a consciously planned programmes of and for  the  school,  for  the  education of the  child.  Curriculum therefore  embraces  all  the activities experienced by an individual under the supervision of a school. Tyler (1971) emphasizes objectives, learning experiences, appropriate instructional methods, materials and evaluation as issues to be included in the development of a curriculum. In order to achieve the objectives of Home Economics curriculum at  any level,  it  is  necessary to determine the curriculum component such as objective, content/learning experiences, delivery  systems  (instructional  materials  and   instructional  methods)  and  evaluation activities. According to Zoobi (2005) objectives help to teach the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes that will enable individuals to become productive members of the society. Ogwo (1996) and Odeh (2000) noted that objectives are outcomes which contents, instructional methods, instructional materials and evaluation techniques are selected and prepared. Ogwo (1996) views content as the subject  matter, the syllabus, the  body of knowledge yet to be studied, it is the “what” of a study, of any achievement. The content or learning experiences cannot be taught without objectives. As observed by Abiogu (2004), learning experiences should be orderly organized for effective learning to be easily feasible. According to Offorma (1994) organization of learning experiences is the sequential arrangement of the experiences. Every learning experiences taught to students must be evaluated. Evaluation of learning outcome is as important as teaching. The students should be evaluated to ensure that all activities so performed have yielded the desired result or objectives. This calls for curriculum development.

The  development  of  hair  dressing  curriculum therefore  must  follow  laid  down processes. Simply put, development of curriculum is a process where curriculum experts; identify what is to be included and means of doing it. This involves identifying the learner’s objective, selection of learning experiences or content and organization, personal resource material, delivery systems, and evaluation procedures (Okpara, 1990). The procedures for the development of hair dressing curriculum will be organized into phases. According to Gall, Gall and Borg (2007), this development can be carried out in Research and Design process (R & D). This research and design process uses research findings to design new products and procedures, followed by the application of research methods to field test, evaluate  and  refine  the  products  and  procedures  until  they  meet  specified  criteria  of

effectiveness, quality, or similar standards. Thus, it will use research findings to assess the appropriateness of hairdressing curriculum. There are ten steps of R and D. This study modified Gall, Gall and Borg (2007) design to five phases.

The study involves identifying the themes, sub-themes, topics, teachers activities, learners activities and evaluation activities based on National Educational Research and Development Council document (NERDC, 2007). Each of these themes was organized with corresponding sub-topics, performance objectives, content, instructor’s activities, learner’s activities, instructional materials, media, instructional methods and evaluation activities. The totality of these phases formed a draft  hairdressing curriculum (HDC) which was validated by experts for integration into the present Home Economics curriculum.

Integration is the act or process of combining two or more things so that they work together. Integration in this study entails including hairdressing curriculum with existing Home  Economics programme.    The  present  Home Economics curriculum available  in universities does not have the hair dressing components. Hair dressing, however, is part of clothing and  clothing and  textiles  is  an  integral part  of the  present  Home Economics curriculum.  It  is  therefore  necessary that  hair  dressing  be  integrated  into  the  present curriculum of the university.

The university is described as both the academic and social institution. It is in a strategic position in carrying out effective Home Economics education. It is in these institutions that students are helped to acquire the skills that will sustain them for life. It is therefore believed that by the end of the students stay in these institutions, that the graduates are  found  worthy in  character  and  learning.  According to  Midrid  and  Garcia  (1999), universities are delegated with the responsibility of maintaining an effective and orderly environment, conducive for teaching and learning. Hence, the need for this study was to develop  hairdressing  curriculum  to   be   integrated  into   Home  Economics  education programme which will equip individuals with skills for gainful employment or become self- reliant.

Statement of the Problem

Thirty nine trade subjects have now been introduced into the Nigerian Secondary education system based on current reforms (NERDC. 2007). Cosmetology is among the trade subjects and hairdressing is part of the content of this subject. Hairdressing is a lucrative business that can afford graduates of Home Economics self-employment. It is worrisome to note that hairdressing curriculum is not included to achieve this reform. To

avoid this negligence, it becomes imperative that university Home Economics Education should have hairdressing curriculum to enable students who are being prepared to teach at the  secondary  school  level  be  well-equipped  with  appropriate  knowledge,  skills  and attitudes in all areas of Home Economics. Therefore, there is the need for this study which involves developing hairdressing curriculum to be integrated into Home Economics Education programme which will equip students for self-reliance after graduation

Purpose of the Study

The  major  purpose of this  study was  to  develop  hairdressing  curriculum to  be integrated into Home Economics Education programme of universities in the South-East, Nigeria. Specifically, the study:

1.        determined the instructional objectives of Hairdressing curriculum to be integrated into Home Economics Education programme of universities in the South-East, Nigeria.

2.        determined  the  content  (knowledge,  skills  and  attitudes)  in  hairdressing  to  be integrated into Home Economics Education programme.

3.        determined the instructional methods that could be adopted in teaching hairdressing

4.        determined the instructional materials/media to be utilized in teaching hairdressing

5.        determined  the  evaluation  activities  that  could  be  employed  for  assessing  the achievement of Hairdressing objectives.

6.        developed  a  draft  Hairdressing  curriculum  based  on  the  findings  from  purpose numbers  1-5  that  could  be  integrated  into  the  Home  Economics  Education programme.

7.        validated the draft hair dressing curriculum.

8.        revised the Hairdressing curriculum based on the inputs from the validates.

9.        determined the effectiveness of the developed hairdressing curriculum.

Significance of the Study

This study will be beneficial to Home Economics students, researchers, curriculum planners, Home Economists, families, hairdressers, and lecturers. It is expected that the findings of the study will be beneficial to Home Economics students. The students will utilize information obtained during the course of study in preparing themselves in hair dressing  occupations.  This  can  be  achieved  through  enhanced  transmission  of  the

information gained from the study into meaningful self-employed ventures in the absence of paid employment.

The study will present a documentary evidence of hairdressing curriculum which will be stored for future generation thereby closing the gap that exists in Home Economics Education for knowledge and transfer. Again, researchers would use the list for references in libraries.

Furthermore, the findings will help curriculum planners to introduce innovation in Home Economics programmes. It will help to prepare curriculum guidelines and reform existing curriculum through workshops, seminars and conference presentations.

Home Economists are not left out. The findings of this study will project a new image of Home Economics as it is one of the innovations likely to meet the test of time. In any programme implementation there is always the need to identify new areas that may need further works either for the purpose of expansion or as a way of injecting efficiency in the existing programmes when they obtain information through Home Economics conferences. The present work will be beneficial to policy makers because it will provide information on areas that need further work.

The findings of this study if considered and utilized by families will enhance family income as the issue of looking for white collar jobs by most graduates, will be a thing of the past. These graduates who belong to families will thus increase their family status through gainful employment as information about the findings is presented to families in family meeting, faith based meetings, community based meetings, among others.

Hopefully, hairdressers will be benefiting from the study through workshops. They will  use  the  information  obtained  during  the  field  work  by  the  researcher  to  teach themselves and their wards in the area of handling the hair and hair products as this will drastically reduce the application of harsh physical and chemical products that leads to hair damage.

Moreover, the findings of the study will be beneficial to Home Economics lecturers. The information obtained in this study will be a reference point to them as the information will help to teach students in hairdressing during lectures, seminars, workshops and conferences.

Finally, the findings of the study will help in determining the objectives, content, instructional   methods,   instructional   materials/media   and   evaluation   procedure   for integration into Home Economics Education programme. Hairdressing curriculum could be

utilized to fill the existing gap in skill transfer in the Home Economics programmes when the findings are integrated into the Home Economics curriculum.

Research Questions

The study was guided by these research questions:

1.         What are the instructional objectives of the hair dressing curriculum to be integrated into Home Economics Education programme of universities in the South-East, Nigeria?

2.         What are the content (necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes) of the hair dressing curriculum to be integrated into Home Economics Education programme?

3.         What are the instructional methods to be adopted in teaching hairdressing?

4.         What are the instructional materials/media to be utilized in teaching hairdressing?

5.         What are the evaluation activities that could be employed for assessing the attainment of hair dressing objectives?

6.         What is the effectiveness of the developed hairdressing curriculum?

Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses (HOS) will be tested in this study at 0.05 level of significance:

1.         There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of hair dressers, lecturers and

students on the instructional objectives of hair dressing curriculum to be integrated into Home Economics Education programme.

2.         There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of hair dressers, lecturers and students on the  content  (knowledge, skills  and  attitudes)  in  hair  dressing to  be integrated into the Home Economics programme.

3.         These is no significant difference in the mean ratings of hair dressers, lecturers and students on the instructional methods that could be utilized in the teaching of hair dressing in universities in the South-East, Nigeria.

4.         There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of hair dressers, lecturers and students  on  the  instructional  materials/media  to  be  utilized  in  teaching  of  hair dressing.

5.         There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of hair dressers, lecturers and students on the evaluation activities of Hair Dressing Curriculum (HDC) that could be employed for assessing the attainment of hair dressing objectives.

6.         There is no significant difference in the mean rating of students trained with HDC

and those students who were not trained with HDC.

Scope of the Study

This study focused on hairdressing themes (Hair and skin, possible problems with hair and treatment, cosmetics/hairstyling products, equipment/tools in hair dressing, communication in hair dressing, choosing a hair style, shampooing, conditioning and drying hair, preparing and styling hair, maintaining customers goodwill), development of hairdressing curriculum for integration based on the specific purposes (1-4) of the study, validation of the instruments, data analysis and production of draft Hairdressing Curriculum (HDC). The study also was delimited to four (4) universities especially universities towns in the  South-East  that  offer  Home  Economics  courses comprising  University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Ebonyi State University, Abakiliki and Abia State University, Uturu. The study was also delimited to five (5) phases of R & D adopted by Gall, Gall and Borg (2007).

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