A Study on the Necessity of Establishing a National Technical Qualification for Master Esthetician in Korea

The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is a need to establish a national technical qualification for master esthetician in Korea. As a research method, a literature review was conducted and a survey was conducted on 1,080 esthetic industry workers. The results are as follows. First, in the literature review, the number of applicants for the esthetician national technical qualification was found to be the highest in the status of applications for the craftsman exam in the beauty field from 2008 to 2023. In addition, in the analysis of the top 10 items for applications for the craftsman national technical qualification over the past five years(2019~2023), esthetician was found to be a qualification with a high application rate, ranking in the top 10 every year. Meanwhile, through an analysis of the Master hair dresser exam, it was found that out of the 8 items of the current practical test, there were 6 items related to hair dressers, but there were no items evaluating the proficiency of esthetic technics. This suggests that it is impossible for estheticians to take the master hair dresser exam, supporting the argument that the establishment of a national technical qualification for master esthetician is necessary. Second, in the survey results, 95.0% of Estheticians responded that the establishment of a esthetician position is necessary, indicating that most of them believe it is necessary. 83.7% of the respondents answered that they think that a esthetician is important in the field of esthetic, and the reason given for this was ‘development of skin care capabilities and improvement of technology’, which was the highest response at 71.8%. In response to the question about willingness to apply for the establishment of a master esthetician position, 83.9% of the respondents said that they would apply. In addition, regarding the positive impact of a master esthetician on society, they answered that ‘as a leader, master esthetician can contribute to the development of the esthetic field’ and ‘master esthetician can contribute to the globalization of K-Beauty.’ In conclusion, through the literature review and survey, it was found that esthetic industry workers think that the establishment of a national technical qualification for master esthetician is very necessary.