Applications are open to experienced professional groomers who share HGA’s commitment to behaviour-led, welfare-centred grooming and would like to develop their own training provision.

Applicants should have successfully completed the HGA Behaviour Grooming Diploma and hold current HGA certification before applying. We may look at alternative certifications alongside our baseline prerequisites.

We also look for practitioners who can demonstrate appropriate professional experience, a strong understanding of canine behaviour and welfare, good communication skills, and a commitment to maintaining HGA’s professional and educational standards.

Becoming a Training Instructor is not automatic following completion of the diploma. Each application is considered individually to ensure that those licensed to deliver HGA education are suitably experienced and aligned with the principles of the Academy.

You don’t need to already be an experienced teacher either. We’ll help you develop the skills needed to confidently deliver HGA education.

Before becoming an HGA Licensed Instructor, you will complete HGA’s dedicated instructor preparation programme, designed to help you confidently and consistently deliver HGA education to your own learners.

Training covers the role and responsibilities of an HGA Licensed Instructor, adult teaching and learner support, delivery of the Behaviour Grooming Diploma, assessment and constructive feedback, practical teaching and canine welfare, quality assurance, and the appropriate use of HGA materials and branding.

You’ll also have the opportunity to practise applying HGA assessment standards and demonstrate your ability to communicate and teach key concepts effectively.

The purpose isn’t to repeat the Behaviour Grooming Diploma you’ve already completed. Instead, it prepares you to move from practitioner to educator while maintaining the standards and principles expected of HGA.

Once the preparation and approval requirements have been successfully completed, you can enter into an HGA licence and begin delivering authorised HGA education through your own training provision.

Yes. As an HGA Licensed Instructor, you operate your own independent training provision and are free to set the tuition fees you charge for your teaching.

This gives you the flexibility to price your training according to the level of support you provide, your delivery format, practical training opportunities, location and the individual structure of your programme.

Your learners will still follow the approved HGA curriculum and assessment requirements, but HGA does not determine what you charge for your own teaching services.

Any fees payable directly to HGA, such as learner registration, official course materials or certification fees, will be set separately by HGA and clearly communicated to Licensed Instructors.

This means you have the freedom to build a training offering that works for your own business while your learners continue to work towards the same HGA certification.

Your business, your tuition fees and HGA standards.

Yes. As an HGA Licensed Instructor, you have flexibility over how you structure and deliver your training.

Depending on the requirements of the HGA programme, you may choose to offer learning through face-to-face teaching, video sessions, practical training days, workshops, and/or a blended approach.

You may not, however, make our education into an online and/or self-study course and/or produce your own online content from our resources and content - this would be in breach of Copyright Laws.

You can determine your own teaching schedule, cohort sizes and level of learner support, allowing you to develop a training model that works for both you and your students.

Regardless of which teaching model you choose, all learners must receive the required HGA curriculum and have appropriate opportunities to meet the programme’s learning and assessment requirements. Any practical training involving dogs must also be delivered in accordance with HGA’s welfare and professional standards.

HGA provides the educational framework and required standards, how you bring that learning to life is your responsibility.

Your HGA Instructor License gives you permission to professionally deliver specified HGA education through your own independent grooming business.

While your license remains active, you will receive access to the approved HGA curriculum, instructor guidance, assessment criteria and supporting teaching resources required to deliver the programme successfully.

Your licence also includes permission to use the appropriate HGA Licensed Instructor branding when promoting your authorised HGA training, alongside ongoing updates and access to HGA standardisation and quality assurance support.

Your learners will be eligible to work towards official HGA certification, subject to successful completion of the programme requirements and HGA’s quality assurance process.

The licence does not transfer ownership of HGA courses or materials. All HGA intellectual property remains the property of its respective owner and is provided for authorised use within your licensed business - any changes to your business set-up will require a re-evaluation of your license.

Your licence gives you the freedom to build your own training business, with an established HGA educational framework behind you.

As an HGA Licensed Instructor you will be responsible for assessing the learners you teach against HGA’s approved assessment criteria.

This includes reviewing submitted work, assessing practical evidence where required, providing constructive feedback and identifying where further development or resubmission may be needed.

HGA will provide assessment criteria, marking guidance and standardisation support to help ensure assessment decisions remain fair and consistent across all Training Practitioners.

Assessment decisions will also form part of HGA’s quality assurance process. HGA may sample learner work and practitioner feedback to ensure the required standard is being applied consistently.

This means you retain responsibility for supporting and assessing your own learners, while HGA maintains oversight of the standard associated with its certification.

All official HGA certification is issued centrally by the Holistic Grooming Academy.

Once you are satisfied that your learner has successfully completed the required learning and assessments, you will submit their completion for certification through HGA.

HGA will confirm that the relevant requirements have been met and that any required quality assurance checks have been completed before authorising certification.

The learner will then receive their official HGA Behaviour Grooming Diploma certification, recognising successful completion of the programme through an authorised HGA Licensed Training Practitioner.

Training Practitioners cannot independently create, alter or issue HGA certificates. Keeping certification with HGA helps protect the integrity of the diploma and ensures that every person holding HGA certification has met the same required standard.

HGA will also maintain a central record of certification, regardless of which Training Practitioner delivered the learner’s programme.

The fee per certificate, per student is £10.00, payable by the Instructor.

Your learners enrol for their training directly with you.

As an HGA Licensed Instructor, you are responsible for recruiting your own learners, managing your enrolments, setting your tuition fees and providing the teaching and support included within your training offer.

Each learner must also be registered with HGA via our Skool Community group where they can network and connect with like-minded groomers and carers.

We strongly encourage all instructors to make their students aware of the HGA monthly membership for access to additional resources that will help them with their studies.

Your relationship with your learners remains yours to manage, while HGA maintains oversight of the educational programme and certification.

Yes. While your licence is active, you will be able to use approved HGA Licensed Instructor branding to promote your authorised HGA training. You may not advertise our material like it’s your own.

With this in mind, you’ll receive dedicated branding assets that clearly identify you as an HGA Licensed Instructor which can be used on your website, social media, promotional materials and within your business in accordance with HGA’s brand guidelines.

The main HGA logo and other HGA branding remain the intellectual property of their respective owner and should only be used in the ways permitted by your licence. Branding must not be altered or used in a way that suggests your independent business is owned, operated or endorsed beyond the scope of your HGA licence.

If your licence ends or is suspended, your permission to advertise yourself as a current HGA Licensed Instructor and use the associated licensed branding will also end.

This gives you the benefit of being visibly associated with HGA while maintaining a clear distinction between your independent business and the Academy itself.

We want becoming an HGA Licensed Instructor to provide a realistic opportunity to develop your own business without requiring a significant upfront investment.

Licensed Instructors pay an annual or monthly licence fee, which provides continued permission to deliver authorised HGA education and access the associated trainer resources, assessment framework, branding, updates, quality assurance and support.

There may also be a separate learner registration and certification fee for each student undertaking an HGA programme through you. This contributes towards HGA administration, official learning materials, quality assurance, record keeping and certification.

Licensed Instructors remain free to determine their own tuition fees and retain the income generated from their teaching.

Current licence and learner registration fees will always be clearly provided before you enter into or renew an HGA licence, with no obligation to proceed.

There is no obligation to remain an HGA Licensed Instructor indefinitely. If you decide that the licence is no longer right for you or your business, you can choose not to renew in accordance with the notice and cancellation terms of your licence agreement.

Once your licence ends, you will no longer be authorised to enrol new learners onto HGA programmes, advertise yourself as a current HGA Licensed Instructor, or use HGA licensed trainer branding and teaching materials.

Importantly, we don’t want an instructor’s decision to leave to disadvantage learners who have already invested in their education.

Where you have existing registered HGA learners, an appropriate teach-out arrangement will be agreed so that they have a fair opportunity to complete their programme. Depending on the circumstances, this may involve you completing their existing training under agreed transitional arrangements or HGA supporting their transfer to another Licensed Instructor at your expense.

Any learners you teach independently outside of HGA remain part of your own training business and separate to the HGA - we hold no responsibility in fulfilling teaching and certification of your learners should you decide to cease offering the service or trading overall - this must be clearly emphasised to each of your registered learners, in writing, prior to them commencing training with you.

No. The HGA Behaviour Grooming Diploma is an independently developed professional education and certification programme and is not an Ofqual-regulated qualification.

The programme has been developed specifically for professional groomers who want to deepen their understanding of canine behaviour, welfare and behaviour-led grooming practice.

HGA establishes its own curriculum, learning outcomes, assessment requirements and certification standards. Licensed Training Practitioners deliver and assess the programme against these requirements, while HGA maintains quality assurance oversight and centrally issues certification.

Being independently developed allows HGA to maintain a curriculum specifically focused on the needs of the grooming profession and to continue developing the programme as evidence, professional practice and our understanding of canine welfare evolve.

We believe strongly in being transparent about the status of our education and will never describe the Behaviour Grooming Diploma as an Ofqual-regulated qualification or imply regulatory recognition that it does not hold.

It is an HGA professional certification, developed, quality assured and certified by the Holistic Grooming Academy.

Yes. Becoming an HGA Licensed Instructor does not prevent you from developing or delivering your own independent training, or from teaching programmes provided by other organisations as long as they do not conflict with our reward-based teachings.

Your HGA licence relates specifically to the HGA programmes and intellectual property you are authorised to deliver.

We recognise that Licensed Instructors bring their own professional knowledge, specialisms and experience, and we want you to continue developing your own business and professional identity alongside your work with HGA.

The important distinction is that your independent courses must remain clearly separate from official HGA education. HGA course materials, assessments, branding and other protected resources cannot be reproduced, adapted or incorporated into another programme without explicit, written permission by Stephanie Zikmann.

Similarly, independent courses should not be marketed in a way that could lead learners to believe they are HGA-certified or endorsed when they are not. The HGA do have an endorsement program for those interested in having the HGA Seal of Approval on their own workshops and courses.

Your HGA licence is designed to add to your professional opportunities, not take ownership of your wider training business.

Your earning potential is determined by you and the training facilities and offers you choose to build.

As an independent HGA Licensed Instructor you decide how much you charge for your teaching, how many learners you accept, how frequently you run your programme and what level of additional support or practical training you provide.

HGA does not take a percentage of your tuition income.

Your agreed HGA licence and learner registration/certification fees are separate, allowing you to understand your HGA costs while retaining the income generated through your own teaching.

Some Licensed Instructors may choose to work with a small number of learners alongside their existing grooming business, while others may decide to make education a larger part of their professional work.

For this reason, HGA does not make income promises or advertise specific earning figures. Your results will depend on factors including your pricing, learner numbers, operating costs, demand and the way you choose to deliver your training.