DEVELOPMENT OF HAIRDRESSING CURRICULUM FOR INTEGRATION INTO HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION PROGRAMME OF UNIVERSITIES

 
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 – develo pment 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.
 
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.