I have a perrennial problem that several parents want a weekly update at the end of each lesson. I have to run back to back due to the amount of pupils I have to fit in. This causes a problem that I often have my next pupil waiting to start their lesson and the preceeding parent just won't leave! Being polite doesn't seem to work.
Those pupils that come on their own just let themselves in and out and appear at the music room door. That is great, but when parents are collecting, or waiting in the waiting room ( which is my conservatory in which is the front door) I feel I have to see the pupil out. I have tried not to, but one parent in particular complained and thought I should be able to go up and hand the child over and give her a quick progress report. The thing is, it isn't quick! Also annoyingly, these are often people who arrive late too! I have several sets of parents where this has become an issue.

I have taught for 25 years so you would think I would have sorted it by now! Problem is, if the following pupil is there with her parent the Mum, quite rightly, gets rattled that her daughter's lesson starts late.

How do others handle this?

Just hand out a general note to every pupil, saying to the pupil, 'Don't put that in your bag. Give it to your mum as soon as you get into the car.'

Explain in the note that if anyone wants to discuss any aspects of progress they will need to arrive 10 minutes early to pick up, as it's unfair to the next pupil otherwise. Or else ask them to write a short note in the pupil's notebook that they'd like you to respond to when you have time.

My clarinet teacher is always keeping me waiting at the end of my lesson by talking to me!! I dread to think how far out she is gong to be by the end of the evening!

My pupils let themselves in and out and I just leave them to it, even those whose parents come to collect them. If they want a quick word I'm always happy to oblige but luckily they can see someone is waiting for their lesson so it never takes longer than a couple of minutes. It's a shame these parents you mention can't see that its difficult for you to chat.

A lot of my pupils/parents now contact me by email if they want to discuss something - is this possible with these particular parents? They know its difficult to talk to me as I teach back-to-back and I don't answer the phone when I'm teaching, so email is really useful.

It seems logical that if this mother wants a progress check on her daughter, which is a reasonable request, then the time taken to do that progress check should come out of her daugther's lesson, rather than the lesson of another child. Does the mother arrive early to collect the pupil, or exactly on time? If she's usually there a couple of minutes early, then the simple solution is to stop her daughter's lesson slightly early in order to do the required talking. If she's later, then it's a bit more tricky. Do you have a newsletter or similar in which you could invite people to come for progress reports, but to make sure they're there early if they want one? That's a mentioning no names way of getting the point across (although could land you doing more progress reports than currently, a problem if you don't enjoy doing them). Other than that it's difficult to suddenly change the situation if you've been going along with it for so long, but it does seem that you need to do something. I'd guess the only other way to go about it really would be to ask her to come early to do this, emphasising that you feel it's unfair on the other pupil and subsequent pupils for whom you will end up running late....

I'm a parent, so see this issue from that side. I don't think it's reasonable to have to chat to parents at the end of a lesson, when the next child is waiting, and it certainly isn't necessary to have a progress report every week! I have sometimes gone in at the beginning of my child's lesson if I felt I needed to see the teacher, as then it is coming out of time I have paid for, but presumably you wouldn't mind that?

What has worked really well for me in the past is this:

1) Child provides a notebook in which the teacher puts two or three quick points on which to concentrate in the coming week's practice. Teacher can also put a quick idea of progress, e.g. staccato much better now, so move on to doing staccato scales.

Parent can use this book to see how the teacher thinks things are going, and also to quickly communicate with the teacher by note. If s/he desperately wants to talk to the teacher, but doesn't drop the child off, a note can be put to ask when it might be convenient for the parent to phone.

2) With the half-termly invoice, teacher includes a short progress report, e.g. Fred is working well and we are aiming for grade 3 in November (or to consolidate his progress with lots more repertoire before moving on to the next grade; or whatever). If you would like to discuss your child's progress, please phone during the following times:

I don't think many parents would phone without good reason, and it does make you seem approachable without compromising anyone else's lesson time.

If you have parents who always chat at the end of the lesson, just finish their child's lesson a bit earlier. If they ask why then explain that it's so you can discuss progress with them, if they have a problem with this explain that you can't let these discussions eat in to your schedule.

My music teacher is always incredibly late. My lesson starts ten minutes late, I go on an extra ten minutes AFTER my allocated time, so those coming after me are twenty minutes late, and so on.

I can't complain. My teacher is a diamond chap that charges little, even for extra tyition and will out of his way to do extra near exam' time. If there's no-one after me because they're on holiday, I get their lesson time for no extra cost!

So what makes me run late is... my lesson!

My pupils all have a notebook - I supply them so they are all the same - and I use one side of a double page to note what is to be worked on in the coming week, etc, and the other side to communicate with the parents, if needed. I encourage parents to write anything about any perceived problems, or changes of lessons, or the pupils can write anything they like, such a how they think their practice has gone, or if they have found anything difficult.

I don't teach many in a row at any time, but schedule half hour lessons 35 minutes apart to allow for a changeover which isn't too fraught.

I also put my email address on my invoices and suggest they use that to communicate.

A friend of mine who teaches piano has a set hour in the week when parents are able to phone for progress reports, if they don't then they have to wait until the next week, she's very strict about it. She sends them out of the door of the studio with a wave to the waiting parent, but never lingers long enough to get into a conversation.

All parents of my pupils attend the lesson with child (except those pupils that have retired!). They see what is going on and are welcome to ask questions during the lesson if they wish. If they want a chat at the end, my body language shows them that they need to leave as well as the next pupil waiting at my doorstep. Parents often email me if they want to talk without their child being with them.

Thanks for all the suggestions. The irritating thing is that I do use a note book and write copiously in it . The note book I use has a specific parents box laid out so that they can leave you comments of concerns. All my pupils have my email address so there is really no reason for wanting a weekly up date. All the parents that cause a problem are the ones that wait in the waiting room for the whole lesson. I wonder if it would be rude to send a round robin note to all pupils parents stating that in future the children must come up and down to the music room on their own and that if parents need to see me to let me know in advance and then I can phone them?
I can't schedule in breaks unfortunately as I have too many pupils to fit in otherwise. I have thought about reducing numbers a bit but I have to have extra to compensate for the several bad payers that I have at the moment!- but that's a different story!

I don't think that would be rude - sounds like a good plan. Your notebooks sound interesting - where do you get them from?

You need to work the way you want to work. If that means that that children come up and down to the music room on their own then make that the policy.

However, as a parent I think it is useful to have a chat at the handover point at the end but this should come out of that childs lesson time. I think a note which explains that, in fairness to all pupils, each lesson must start on time. At the end of each lesson you will send the child out to wait in the waiting area so the next lesson can start on time. You can say that if a parent wishes to discuss any aspects of the lessons or practise they can arrive EARLY to collect and make their way up to the teaching room so you can answer their questions without impacting on the start time of the next lesson. That means you are not seen to exclude parents or be avoiding contact but are being fair on everyone.

I think if you explain that policy and stick to it then parents who want to chat will soon learn to arrive early.

Good plan Ear Plugs- will try that.

The note book I use is called Jot-a- note. It is A4 and has manuscript on one side with a practice grid below. On the other side is plenty of space for teachers notes plus a comments box for parents. There is also a weekly activity set, better for younger pupils such as how many stringed instruments can you name. Published by Spartan but most music shops can get them. My pupils love them up to the age of 12/13

It might be better to say to parents that if they want a chat, it should be at the start of the child's lesson not at the end - otherwise you've still got the problem of getting rid of them if coming five minutes early at the end of the lesson isn't enough. They're more likely to keep it brief if they realise the clock is ticking into their own child's lesson. Also, if you ask parents to talk to you at the start of the lesson, you can take account during the lesson of anything they've said

The only problem with this is a determined parent could insist that they want to know what has happened in the lesson, which one clearly can't tell them before it starts....