Hello

I started working as a peri at a secondary school since September and as weeks go on there seems to be more and more absent pupils. While I don't mind bit of a breather now and then, 7 out of 11 not turning up is ridiculous! I know they have to get out of class and so on, but what's the point of paying for a term only to turn up 2 times? I've talked to the head, told the kids' friends to tell them, but it still doesn't make much difference. While privately I have a very reliable student base that keeps on growing, I feel little bit frustrated I can't do the same at school. I also wonder if my job is at risk as so few turn up. Other peris don't seem to enjoy a great attendance record either so I don't know whether to just accept it or actively do something about it?

If you can, and you haven't already, try to do your timetable at each school in such a way as to ensure pupils don't miss the same lesson each week. You'll probably find this will help a bit.

There are all sorts of reasons, timetabling is a big one - they get hassled from teachers, or may have tests, exams, trips, a cake in the oven, assembly which it is difficult to walk out of. Also sickness is a big one at this time of year. Another problem is peer pressure, at that age they can get clingy to their friends, and not want to leave them for a music lesson if they are having fun. Is it mainly girls ? I find them worse than boys for not showing up. Some of course are plain forgetful.
I always think it shows parental commitment - did the parent say - "remember your music lesson today?"
If the parent is interested enough to do that then the pupil as least has a chance to discuss the pressures with the parent and get some support. If not, you can bet the kid has not practised and no one really cares.

Ultimately a report to parent is the only way - our twice yearly reports indicate attendance very clearly. Of course the head of music should also be showing an interest - some ask us to keep registers at the school each week, and will send notes home on our behalf. And teenagers often vote with their feet, if they are not feeling enthusiastic, you are the first to know, and their parents are the last!

In one of the schools I work in, the secretary drops off a list first thing in the morning detailing who's absent with illness or who's absent 'unexplained'. At least that way you know who's present in the school and who isn't. Although I'm not obliged to do this in one of the schools (the same school), I do it anyway - wait 10 minutes and then go to the secretary's office to find out where the child is. I then head to the classroom, knock on the door, quickly look to see where the child is, discreetly hiss their name and out they come. Once out in the corridor I say' what happened?' and they say 'oops, I forgot!' or 'I thought my lesson was later' or whatever. I chide them gently or otherwise depending on the credibility of the excuse and off we go to the teaching room. I haven't had to do this for quite a while now.

If you don't do this, they can just miss too many lessons through sheer haplessness - not looking at the clock, for example - which is a waste of everyone's time. We're there to teach, not sit around getting paid for doing nothing, and it's no skin of my nose to make a little trip around the school from time to time. I've also found it's so embarrassing having me appear at the classroom door that they're not likely to forget next time!

Do you have a Music CoOrdinator or a HoD that you can mention this to? Ultimately your job is to teach these pupils, not wander around the School looking for them. Someone needs to have a word with the kids concerned. 7 out of 11 pupils not turning up doesn't sound right to me (unless they are all in Year 10,11 or 12/13 and have mocks).

Violinia, your School you mention sounds extremely organised, lucky you! If only ALL schools were like that!

When I was a peri at our local cathedral school it was expected of me that I hunt them down in whatever class they happened to be in at the time!

Beagle I can only sympathise - I spent hours staring at the walls when I was a peri in a secondary school. Not only were the students extremely forgetful but it was made worse by the fact the timetable was changed every week in order that pupils did not miss the same class lesson every week. Sorry I have no positive suggestions to offer - hopefully others will have.

That sounds like the school did the timetable rather than you. I'm lucky in that I do my own timetable each week, and my pupils write down their time for the following week in their diaries. It's quite rare for someone to forget, I tend to find, then.

The secondary school pupils I teach I also see the night previous to their lesson, in choir practice. This gives me the opportunity to remind them they have a lesson. I won't chase my pupils - the school I'm in has a 'runner' system, where I can go to the reception area, give a message to one of the runners and they'll go and deliver the message to the pupil. But by the time I've waited 5 or 10 minutes to see if they come, then gone over to ask a runner to find them, they've been found and turn up then the lesson time is over, so I usually don't do it. Anyway, I think the secondary kids should be old and responsible enough to remember to come for their lesson. I usually write in large letters on the timetable "XXXX where were you?" and I charge them for the lesson, unless there's a very, very good reason why I shouldn't.

Dear Beagle

I was a peri for 15 years until I retired three years ago ; you have already met the biggest frustration of the job - patchy attendance which leads to lack of progress for the pupil and lack of satisfaction for the teacher.

The school has booked you to teach pupils and it is their responsibility to ensure that they are there ; you should not have to wander the corridors to find pupils,as by the time you have located them their lesson time will be practically lost. Secondary schools are the worst offenders in this regard ; they expect you to produce competent instrumentalists to play in the school concerts,etc but often do very little to facilitate it. The person who should be your biggest help when the school is unco-operative is your senior manager at the peripatetic service ( assuming that you work for a local authority team and not on your own account ) . Sadly, my experience was that these persons are so anxious to retain the custom of the school concerned that they will rarely 'take on' the school over these matters. That other peris have the same experience rather confirms to me that this is likely in your case. I would say your job is more likely to be at risk if you do make a fuss as services and schools don't like a teacher who 'ruffles the waters'.

I'm sorry that this seems so negative but in some situations it is better to endure frustration rather than experience unemployment ; I hope at least some of the schools you visit are well set up and welcoming for peripatetic teaching.

As far as I know there has never been an independent study to assess the effectiveness of peripatetic teaching ; I'm sure it would bring forth some interesting results if it were ever undertaken .

Over thirty years of teaching in schools and at home, I prided myself on the fact that my pupils (60 -80 per week) always turned up for their lessons .
Then I took on another school and suddenly I had the situation that you describe. No motivation from the students and poor attendance.
The root of the problem seems twofold: 1. it is an area where parents and pupils prize pieces of paper (exams) above all else and identify classroom lessons as being of most importance. 2. it is an Upper School so pupils enter the school in Year 9, just before the GCSE's start.
The only way I have found to make them turn up regularly for lessons is to engage them with very clear and prescribed weekly and term targets plus a 'let's do an exam' scenario - but without making any huge demands on them.
Confronting the students or parents (didn't matter whether it was me or the director of music that did it) about the poor attendance only seemed to result in the student adopting a negative attitude and ceasing lessons altogether - which is not good for the pocket!

Like you I've been peri-ing since September. For the first half term I spent all my time chasing up kids in high schools until my line manager told me it wasn't my job to do it. A lot of it, as has been said by others is to do with the art of timetabling! But I now use the time where pupils don't turn up to catch up on paperwork or practice of my own. Practising has actually increased support from music teachers in some schools as they hear that you're actually a musician and possibly deserve a bit more respect! Are you working for a music service? Mine has very strict rules about what our job does and does not entail to protect our rights e[quote]tc as teachers - running around school aftwr kids not being one of them!

I can't believe how unproactive most of you seem to be re making sure the kids turn up to their lessons! You're far more likely to keep them on board if you chase them up - they'll drop out through total lack of progress otherwise - and you'll only have to chase them up a couple of times for the message to get through. There's probably nothing more embarrassing for a teenager than a music teacher staring through the window of their classroom door, or worse - barging in.

A couple of years ago I had a persistent offender so after the third time I'd dragged her out of the lesson I read her the riot act and told her it wasn't my job to go running around looking for her and that she was being totally irresponsible. She was shocked to see me so angry and has never forgotten since.

Why doesn't everyone just break their Music Service's rather lackadaisical-sounding advice and just go for it? Get those pupils out, drag them to their lessons, read them the riot act if they forget more than twice and that's it - problem solved.

My daughter was not "allowed" to go to her music lesson because she had to stay and do history. Sometimes the teachers stop them.
I have taken steps to see this doesn't happen again.

When I started a choir at my local primary school, I was given a 50 minute slot once a week, which started at the same time as assembly and went on through morning break. Although I thought this would work okay, I was constantly having to send choir members to fetch others who had forgotten and gone into assembly, got frequent messages to say that such and such couldn't come because they had been given a task by their teacher, and then when the bell went for break, it seemed half the choir either had to go and do some task or other or wanted to go and get their milk and fruit........ you get the picture!
Added to this was the fact that I was given a small room that was also used to store things and I often had to make room for the choir, especially when a school performance was being rehearsed for and the costumes gradually took up more and more space. I ended up feeling so pushed around that I gave up.

My son wasn't allowed to leave his lesson for his music lesson. The odd thing is that it was GCSE music he was expected to miss every week. There was no variation, no rotation, and teacher wouldn't release him. In the end we had to cancel the lessons. Which is sad as he still needs to do a performance as part of his GCSE work!

And they wonder why people have such a low opinion of teachers.

One of my secondary pupils asked one week if he could avoid coming for his piano lesson at a certain time as the teacher had said he wasn't allowed to miss any more of the lessons. It was a subject he found difficult and he needs to get a reasonable mark at GCSE. As I'm self employed and this is the only school I go to I was able to reschedule both my GCSE pupils so they now come at lunch time. Don't know what I'd have done if I couldn't be flexible.

I have been told by a couple of the parents and now by one of the pupils who come from the primary school that sometimes the teacher doesn't allow them to come over for the lesson.

As for chasing up the pupils. If you work in a school that doesn't mind you going to the classrooms of the individual pupils and pulling them out of the lessons, then that's fine. It doesn't work that way in the school I work in. They have a system of finding pupils who don't arrive for lessons and for reporting children who don't turn up for lessons, and expect the children to have some sense of responsibility about turning up at the right place at the right time. I have in the past chased pupils; by the time they arrive it's too late to do anything with them other than tell them off ; chasing the primary school pupils is impossible.

I know i aint a teacher but i could provide a fw answers.


Forgetting is the main reason, teachers not letting you out, "forgotten" instruments, important subject work, you get the idea?

But this year our lovely new head of music changed everything, this happens in our school all the time, and our head of music goes off her head. If you dont turn up and you sitting a certificate class in music she'll go nuts. She has a system where you fill out missing pupils on the wall and their sent for and asked to provide a reason for absence unless you go in the morning and inform her/ tutor you are unable to attend.

Hope this helped.xxx

Not totally clear, I'm afraid, no. I teach in a grammar school and - yes - it is often the case that a child might forget his instrument, but that's not the school's fault and it is a waste of his parents' hard earned money. The other scenario you touched on is when another teacher overrules the lesson and insists on the child staying in the other subject. This wouldn't be allowed to happen in our school. Such a teacher is totally out of order and will just have to put up with it, no matter how far the musical instrumentalist might be behind in that teacher's subject. For more senior pupils it is usually possible to work round leisure / study / free periods etc.

LR

Another thing you can do, especially as the kids get older as they go through secondary school, is to sit down with them and go through their timetables with them and work out the best instrumental timetable for them. It can get really complicated but it can be done. In one school I have three or four of them specifically requesting not to have lessons at certain times so I try and work round it by giving them lessons at the best times for them, working round Weeks As and Bs as well.

Yes it can take me an hour of my own time to figure out the timetable but I reckon it's an hour well spent if it means they can turn up to all their violin lessons without any hassle.

I agree totally.

At upper secondary level, I feel it is necessary for instrumental tutors to respect the pupil/school teacher dynamic. These teachers have a huge responsibility and our co-operation is an excellent way to achieve harmony by liaising with each pupil concerned to try to formulate a mutually acceptable tuition timetable around their non-exam subjects, lunch times etc. . Frustrating as it can be occasionally, we need to remember that we don't have to be in the school. Instrumental tuition is not (yet) compulsory and we are, in effect, guests of the principal so to speak. While we may have agreements, understandings etc. re. tuition, the classroom teacher has every right not to allow pupils out of lessons - they are at school after all. We depend on the good will of parents and teachers for our jobs. Just think how many of us would lose out completely should our schools/parents decide that the pupils would no longer be allowed to attend tuition during school hours. I dread to think. On the whole, I think we'd agree that our lessons run smoothly, thanks to the school teachers. But sometimes we must accept that our pupil(s) has something that the teacher considers more important to do with his/her class. And, sometimes it is far more important.
Persistant erratic behaviour is another issue completely.

So, learn to manage your lessons carefully, plan timetables, work with everyone on a win-win basis and most should turn out good. Yes, there will be hiccups, but that's life and that's when you learn to adapt - which you have to sometimes do.

Production of a timetable, for display in the staffroom and of which a copy should be issued to each pupil is also very helpful. Also, it may be convenient to schedule a permanent lesson immediately before or after school. Caretakers and teachers are usually around for that half hour also.

I have had the same problems whilst peri teaching at secondary schools. I would recommend persevering with keeping the head of music informed when pupils dont turn up. If that isnt effective then the other option is to speak to the music service - I did this and they phoned the parents of the pupil concerned, and since then there has been mostly regular attendance.

I have, on several occasions, spent almost an entire 30-minute lesson waiting to see if a pupil will turn up, concluding they aren't going to, going to the office to find out which classroom they should be in, trying to find said classroom (in a completely different part of the school from the music department), being told they're in fact in a different room, attempting to find the second classroom only to be told they're not there either, eventually tracked down the child and then discovered that they don't have their music and/or haven't done any practice. I have now left that school...

I can see why you left that school, but you don't need to wait half an hour to see if they're going to turn up or not! Ten minutes is my limit, then I go off and find them. Nine times out of ten they're where the secretary says they are; if they're not I tend to give up at that point but make sure a note about attendance is sent to them.

One of the music teachers at the school where I am has given me each pupils timetable for the particular day I'm in - I have an advantage running round school as well - I used to study there and know my way around the place, including the shortcuts! Although what doesn't help is that I'm very petite and look like a sixth former anyway - sometimes I don't think the teaching staff take me seriously when I pull students out of their lessons.

I do agree with one of the comments above though (sorry can't remember whose) that it's my job to teach the students and not to chase after them. The past few weeks I've been making up lessons at the end of my teaching day (I do 9 till 2 straight through as I'm still at Uni) but it's starting to wear thin especially as I don't feel comfortable charging for these extra hours. I'm wondering if it's harsh for me to stop making the lessons up and mention that they'll have to explain to Mum why they only went to half of their lessons that term. I used to miss lessons when I was at school - part and parcel of being in year 8, and no-one would ever come and look for me.

And another thing - all my students are under instruction that if a class teacher is hassling them or 'won't let them out' then they tell the teacher to take it up with me! I experienced hassle from class teachers at school and it wasn't nice!

Kate

I didn't mean I waited half an hour to see if they would turn up - that would be the entire lesson! - I meant that the half an hour was used up first waiting for them (5-10 minutes depending on their usual level of punctuality) and then running around the school looking for them. It was a list, see...

I sympathise with you, Beagle, I am a peri at a secondary too - and I agree, do all you can to chase them up, but at the end of the day, I assume you still get paid when they don't turn up, right? So take your own music to practise, and/or a good book, and enjoy the time! How many other jobs are there where you get paid to sit around and do nowt?

True, I do get to do my own practice and read the paper. The kids who miss lessons are mostly yr 11s and 12s so I just assume they have important classes. I was told not to chase them up although I have to submit a slip to the head of music if a child misses more than 2 lessons in a row. The timetable is always done for me in advance but maybe I should look for ways to do that myself.

I'm more worried about my own prospects if anything, as I would think children who miss lessons regularly this term will pull out altogether next term. It's quite a small school and I know another peri who has less students this term than the last one. However now I know this is a common problem among peri teachers at secondary schools so thank you for all your kind suggestions