I am a private violin teacher and quite regularly receive last minute phone calls from my students to cancel their lessons. Occassionally I also get the odd student forgetting to turn up. This is impacting quite dramatically on my time and finances as well as my ability to fit other students in at such short notice.

As I am a member of the Musician's Union, I am considering using their Private Teaching contract and asking all my students to agree and sign for their lessons for the forthcoming month with the proviser that if they miss any of these lessons, that they must pay for them. However, I am a little hesitant to use a formal contract for fear of putting people off coming for lessons. I teach quite a lot of university students who are on a limited income, so I am worried that they may feel too much under pressure if asked to sign a contract for a month's worth of lessons in advance. However, if I did this on a weekly basis instead, then we would need to sign a contract at the end of every lesson, which seems a little too strict and is quite time consuming.

I would welcome any advice or ideas of how I can overcome this and would be interested to hear any methods that other private teachers use.

Many thanks.

Get payment in advance! It's the only way. I don't like the idea of contracts either, somehow, but I do get paid in advance. I get paid termly and tell them that if they can't make it for whatever reason I'll do my best to reschedule but can't guarantee. It means that in a genuine case I'll genuinely do my best, but don't if I know they're just making no effort to get here. Just explain that as of next week you'll be billing them by the term, and expect payment within the week, or you will need to change to a more secure occupation!

I think a lot of people are wary of using contracts, but they are widely used for other courses and lessons and there is no need to be shy when you are running a business.

I introduced contracts last year after realising that parents were cancelling lessons with me in order to fulfill other commitments that HAD been paid for in advance. I lost one student when I issued the contracts (who would have left anyway, I think). The number of missed lessons dropped dramatically - people value things they have paid for!

If you continue to accept last minute cancellations and don't charge for them, there is no incentive for people not to do it again and again. Just give people a reasonable amount of notice eg start after half term and go for it. I charge per term, but some people charge for half a term or a month - choose whatever suits you best.
Good luck.

I give my terms at the start and insist that they pay for each lesson at the time of booking (I don't usually do regularly weekly lessons, too many students, but for those who I do see each week, we consider that the end of one class is the 'booking time' for the next).

So they sign the TC's and pay for their first lesson when they book it (there's usually about a 6 week wait) and they know that if they cancel with less than 48 hours notice, they lose the fee.

I don't apply the TC's for long standing students who just happen to mess up once, or for people who appear to have genuine health concerns - but the fee isn't refunded - we reschedule.

This way, because they're always one ahead, I never have to broach the 'please can you pay me for the class you missed' conversation.

Good luck sorting it out!

Yes, I agree get paid in advance.

I do mine half-termly - whatever works for you in your situation, but get invoices out in good time and you'll find that once a student has paid the commitment somehow falls into place.

I get payment for the month ahead in advance so they're less likely to mess me around except when it's things like football matches (playing in), or school trips/concerts etc. Then we re-arrange the lesson for another day or hold it over into the school holiday.....

Before I used to get pathetic excuses like "well he's been invited for a sleepover and really doesn't want to miss it" or "he's feeling really tired - is it OK if we leave it until next week?" Which basically was no, it's not OK, but it's very difficult to say that!........

So now I don't get any of that messing.......

I used to be very relaxed about payment but found, as you are finding, that people messed me about. Now I invoice by post (or by hand delivery if the students are close) before the start of each half term with payment due at the first lesson of the half. It took me a while to work up to this but perhaps that's because I'm the kind of person who agonises for months before each rise in fees. However, I always get paid. Money up-front is better because it's much harder getting money out of parents for missed lessons, whatever the terms of the agreement, if they haven't parted with it already. If you have to miss a lesson you can graciously give a refund or reschedule and probably give reasonable notice too.
If you are worried about losing students, know that you will only lose those who are flaky anyway and don't value you properly. Starving students, and parents juggling their children's social calenders, will warn you in advance if they can't make a lesson in the hope you will be accommodating time-wise. If you take yourself and your service seriously then others will too, your reputation will spread and you'll find yourself being better remunerated for a more rewarding use of your time. You really have far more to gain by being firm than you can possibly lose.

Very eloquently put, Jon, and absolutely right! Welcome to the forums...

I agree with all that has been said above - terms and conditions are the way to go.

I only just implemented mine and all my students/their parents were happy to sign them. I did consider a contract, but like you thought it looked too intimidating and whilst I wanted/needed something formalt, terms and conditions somehow seem less formidible, but nevertheless cut in stone.

Before I started using T&Cs, my only safety net was the fact that I enforced a 24 hour notification period, which may be something you can do within the next week or so, if you can't bring in a signed agreement for a certain amount of time. From the start, when someone books with me, I let them know my policy that they need to give me 24 hours notice of cancelling or postponing a lesson that has already been booked, otherwise they pay for it. Whilst this hasn't stopped people from cancelling (I had an adult call 1 hour before a lesson yesterday to cancel because they were "embarassed by the little amount of practice they had done this week"!), they still have to pay for the inconvenience they have caused at such short notice by the fact that I have lost that time slot and am unlikely to be able to fill it in time.

I too agree wholeheartedly with jonlambert.

His points are so well put, I can't really add anything further, except to say that a 'contract' / 'terms and conditions' is simply a way of formalising the verbal agreement which your students have made with you in asking for lesssons. And as everyone knows, verbal contracts are as valid as written ones, except that written ones 'stand up' in court ...

denmark

Yes, well said Jonlambert.

And welcome!

I'm a bit puzzled as to what the difference is between the two; surely a contract is essentially a signed list of terms and conditions?

That's exactly what I thought - a written agreement, signed T&Cs etc. are surely nothing less than a legal contract (although I'm not a lawyer, so if there's a difference, I am willing to learn ) ? Maybe the word "contract" is offputting to some people, that's why some prefer to call it differently. I still call mine a contract though, and people usually don't have problems signing it - only a few who have problems sticking to its conditions, but that wouldn't change if I called it "signed T&Cs" I guess

I'm in a similar situation. I already have a private contract but I charge at the end of every half term rather than in advance. This has never been a problem until now with one pupil. His parents were late paying me last half term and after three phonecalls and two reminder invoices, I finally had a phone message saying their cheque must have got lost in the post and that they would send another with the child (I teach "privately" within a primary school). I got this and accepted that maybe the original cheque had been lost in the post as it never seems very reliable around here. This meant that I was paid only a week before I was due to give out the next invoice (for last half term). I'm still waiting for this money and have already begun to leave phone messages again. Was I too naive the first time round? I've been avoiding having to charge in advance for lessons as work commitments can make planning all the lessons in a half term in advance difficult, but is this the only realistic way forward? Sorry to hijack the thread

- and - !

and what's more, if all music teachers were more consistent in their expectations, we would all have a more rewarding time (psychologically and financially!). After all dentists manage it. I find some of my pupils have been taught really good habits by other professionals (e.g. big brother's violin teacher) whilst others expect to get away with all sorts and when I dig a little I find it's because some other poor soul has ended up being treated like a doormat through lack of experience. I'm afraid I've done this until recently and I hope I haven't caused problems for other teachers by setting a lax precedent.

I've just written what could be described as Ts&Cs but I haven't actually asked anyone to sign them. A kind forum member let me have sight of her introductory sheet which she gives to new pupils, gently setting out expectations of commitment. I think it would be fair to say that by booking a block of lessons after being given this sheet, parents are agreeing to abide by its guidelines. For existing pupils, I wrote a letter accompanying this term's invoices that said something along the lines of "in order to avoid putting fees up this year, I need to clarify my policy on missed lessons..." and then laid out my expectations about cancellations and explained that I was moving to sending invoices out much earlier in the term. I haven't had a single objection (yet).

I hope you manage to find a solution that suits you.

Just thought I'd add to this post by sharing my day with you, I have/had a persistant canceller each week, they called today, couldn't get here due to car problems, and actually making the journey each week was getting hard so they had been thinking about looking more locally for a different teacher - my reply, 'Don't worry, I've already found you one, here's the number, she's expecting your call!'

I hope the new teacher isn't a friend of yours, though....

You must charge for a term of lessons in advance. If you let them pay per lesson they will walk all over you. I have a list of Terms and Conditions which I send them before the first lesson - there's no need to make them sign anything because when they see that the tuition is organised in a professional way and that they will be charged for late cancellations you'll have very little trouble. Good luck!

Bet they don't mess you about though...

I agree - you have to be able to use your discretion. I have some people who I know very well & they never mess me around - totally reliable.

She is, but is such a great old lady - she don't take any messin!

I think it is a common dilemma because we don't like wearing our "business hats" - somehow it makes us feel guilty, even though we are trying to run a business and earn a viable income! It is reassuring to hear from other teachers with similar dilemmas.
I naively started with no agreement in place and often recieved mildly apologetic last -minute calls from parents, when the children were "going down with something". I realised I had to change my approach when one day more than half of the lessons were cancelled at no cost to the parents! Like many other teachers, I now have a written "guide" for parents about my tuition and it includes the terms and conditions I work to, in particular that they are only allowed to miss one lesson per academic year without paying for it, and any others must still be paid for in full. This works really well for me, and I feel it is reasonable and realistic to allow them to miss one lesson for illness or anything else that crops up. I have not found it matters whether people are paying weekly or half-termly; as long as I reiterate that condition to them at the start of their tuition and the beginning of every term, they seem happy to abide by it. However, I know that I am very lucky with the parents that are using my tuition and it is probably better advice from those on the forum that are telling you to have payment up front!
I decided not to enforce this for the couple of adults I teach as I make them come later in the evening and the agreement is that I am as likely to cancel as they are! (because of parents evenings etc.) However, if you are teaching anyone in totally set-aside time and you prioritise their lesson over anything else I think they should observe conditions of attendance, as they are lucky to have that time and lucky to have you as their teacher! You deserve the same commitment that they are expecting from you!
Good luck!

I'm not sure about this. Some students will never miss a lesson through illness, but others might have to miss several during the course of a year. I feel it's harsh to charge for them for lessons if they are genuinely ill. I charge for 4 lessons in advance and my T&Cs state that lessons missed without at least 24 hours prior warning will be charged for, but that that does not apply to lessons missed through illness. I always try to re-schedule lessons if students have a good reason for needing to do this and the same would apply if they had to miss because of illness.

This doesn't have so much of an affect on me as i'm only a student myself so teaching isn't my 'job' as such (well it is but you know what i mean!) and i have one girl who only turns up about 20% of the time... that's being generous... and she VERY rarely calls to say she isn't coming, just doesn't turn up, then when she does come she doesn't say anything about the times she hasn't been there. I actually can't remember the last time she came... though she has said she's definately coming this week... (though she also said she was coming last week... and the week before...)

Sounds like it's time you say that enough is enough! You shouldn't stand for being messed around like that, even though you're only a student at the moment. I'm presuming that she doesn't pay for the lessons she misses?

I have had one family like this and have added a late payment charge to my T&Cs as a result; so fees are due by a certain point in the term and if not received I will add a percentage to next term's bill. So far I haven't had to enforce this though!

It may be harsh, but it's fairly harsh that we, as teachers, should be penalised for someone else's illess. After all, noone compensates us when we're ill; we don't get paid then, either.


I still think this is open to abuse. What is to stop someone who has been ill, or whose child has been ill, for several days claiming that the illness only started that afternoon?

I realise that would be dishonest, but that's not to say it doesn't happen!

I don’t have to charge the pupils myself because the association for which I work handles the finances. On the other hand I do have to claim for lessons given. I can’t impose conditions as I’m not paid directly by pupils. However in the welcome letter at the beginning of each year I make it quite plain that lessons missed must be paid for as I will claim for them.

The only exceptions to this are hospitalisation of a child or parent or bereavement. I am afraid if they are just ill with a cold or something they are expected to pay. This is because I got led quite a dance some years ago with “sick” children being seen at birthday parties

Having made my rules rather strict I am then at liberty to say that I will make up lessons “at my discretion” and in practice I do this whenever I feel it is the correct thing to do. I rarely have any problems now. I think we have to hold the reins. We can be as generous as we like – but it is we who decide, not the parents.

I think that, as a student, one difficulty with notifying about an illness a day or so in advance is fine if you're lessons don't matter much to you. I really value my lessons so would wait until as late as possible before deciding I had to ring my teacher to say I couldn't make it. I'd have to be pretty much incapable of remaining upright for that to happen.
When I was at school I used to try to get into school when barely able to stand if it was my piano lesson day as my mum's approach was if you are too ill for school you are too ill for anything else.

One teacher I had charged when I was in hospital and convalescing (only a week or two but it wouldn't have made a difference if it was longer). He taught full time and that was his whole income (not that it should make a difference).
Many seem reluctant to do this but, as has been said, business is business and it doesn't stop you being friendly or fair.

As some teachers do not charge for illness, do you think it would work and be fair if teachers charged half their lesson fee for illness because, as I think Czerny said, who pays teachers when they are ill. At least that way the teacher would get some money.

Only if the teachers are allowed to pay half their supermarket bill or half their mortgage when that happens.

Both EPTA and the ISM recommend that lessons missed by the student, for whatever reason, including illness, are charged for. It is up to the individual teacher to decide how much notice they need. In the case of clashes with school trips etc, I find I can usually reschedule in the same week.

Of course the teacher can use their discretion; but we pretty soon learn who is genuine and who is just taking us for a ride. My personal favourite: ' Do you think you could have M tomorrow instead, as she'd like to play with her friends in the snow?'

Of course you're right. We all have to use our discretion, and also our instincts. There are families who always make sure that they tell me well in advance if something is going to clash and so give me plenty of time to re-schedule, and others who phone or text just a few hours before. I'm half expecting that to happen tomorrow with one family, even though I asked the student last Monday to be sure to let me know if she wouldn't be coming!

I don't seem to have much of a problem with people phoning to say they're ill at the last minute. I think if that happened, and it didn't sound genuine, I'd be wondering if it was just an excuse because they didn't want to come for their lesson and that would worry me.

I do feel that I'm lucky, though, as nearly all of my families are punctual, considerate and respectful and always pay on time. Must be something to do with my age!!

I'm happy for pupils to swap amongst themselves (in cases where they know each other) or to try to assist with a swap on their behalf (within reason - I'm not willing to spend an entire evening on the phone trying dozens of different permutations), but it's up to the pupil - or their parents - to be sufficiently organised to arrange this in time; it's no use texting me on the day itself when I'm teaching at school and expecting me to miraculously rearrange my schedule. In other words, if there's going to be a swap, the pupil who is moving to accomodate the one who can't make it needs enough notice!

Well although not relevant to cancellation/ missing lessons, I've just received notice ( on a Sunday) that a pupil of mine is finishing lessons.

I require 4 weeks / 4 lessons notice. Given there are two bank hols this month ( pupil has lesson on Mon and, amazingly, cannot re-schedule to any other night - I normally re-arrange ) the parents were hoping to pay for only TWO out of the four lessons required for notice. I said 4 lessons must be paid for as holidays are not part of the notice period.

Sneaky...but I've had parents try this on with the summer holiday break too.

So what are people's thoughts on this?

I don't really teach anymore and she's the only girl i 'teach' now so... i guess so. Plus i'm only 17 so even though obviously i'm in the right i'd still feel really out of place telling her dad that it's unacceptable etc. =/

I've had people kind-of try it on with holiday periods too. I also had one mother suggest that we 'see how it goes for the notice period and if his interest hasn't picked up during that time we'll finish then'.

I pointed out that the idea of the notice period was to fill the slot from people waiting, and that it often takes the four weeks to sort out the replacement - and for them to perhaps rejig their schedule so that they are available to take the vacant slot. So it doesn't work on a 'suck it and see' basis.

Fliwwt - I take your point, and it's difficult for someone of student age to point this out - I accept.

But it's very unfair of a parent to put a student in this position - in effect he's taking advantage of the fact that you're younger and won't like to say anything.

Perhaps put it down to experience?

[quote name='Czerny' date='May 2 2009, 05:32 PM' post='822492']
I make the distinction that I don't charge for lessons missed from 'sudden illness' i.e. they're ill on the day and had been fine up to that point. Otherwise I find people cancel at the last minute yet are quite happy to tell you that they've been ill all week!
[/quote]
I still think this is open to abuse. What is to stop someone who has been ill, or whose child has been ill, for several days claiming that the illness only started that afternoon?
[/quote]
I work on a similar basis - payment is not required in cases of sickness. Yes, it is open to abuse, but if students do abuse it (and I suspect that on a few occasions this has happened) it is they who have to live with their consciences. However, I do this in part in the hope that they would be similarly understanding if I were unable to teach because of sickness.

After too many years of being taken advantage of, trying to be accomodating and flexible and fitting in with everyone else.

THE WORM HAS TURNED

I have put it to one fortnightly (Adult) pupil who yet again was on the point of "putting the next lesson off" until the next scheduled one, in spite of my insistence that we found a mutually acceptable alternative, that should I not be available for lessons in the future, WHO ELSE would he find in this area!!??

Doesn't that sound big-headed of me but it's true. For the specific electronic instrument on which he studies (his own), and the music he likes to learn to play, there is TRULY no-one else within a 20-mile radius......coast line excepted.

.............he pays me only one lesson in advance................and I refuse to be picked up and dumped when it suits him or ayone else in future

............

I think this misses the point slightly. Perhaps you're in a different financial situation, but I can't afford to lose out every time a pupil is ill, in addition to every time I am ill. I don't really care about their consciences, but I do care about my bank balance!

When the teacher is ill, the lesson is rearranged, carried over or refunded; the pupil does not lose out financially. If any parent were to give me a hard time for being ill I'd probably tell them to take a hike; the fact they had to pay when little Jonny was ill does not then give them the moral high ground or right to make a fuss, it's merely fairly standard business practice to pay for absences (see ballet schools, Tai Kwon-do, swimming classes, etc., etc.).

I should point out that no parent has ever complained when I've been ill - in fact last time I wasn't well one of them even offered to get me some shopping! I have also never been faced with a pupil suffering a serious or prolonged illness, in which case I would use my discretion as to whether to enforce this policy.

I used to use my discretion charging for cancellations, that didn't work as I am too soft. Now I charge for all missed lessons but will always try to reschedule where possible, often at considerable difficulty to my family schedule.

I got sick of paying for other peoples sickness, forgetting to come because of parties, work, weather, short notice cancellations etc. I sent out a T & C explaining this (they are given 4 weeks payment free weeks per year for scheduled holidays ot whatever, which must be arranged in advance), and although a few occasionally try it on, the response is usually okay.

I decided that I have to be more business-like as well as friendly as I was always losing out and now I can't afford to. I think we should be like other activities such as music centre lessons, stage school, swimming etc where you get charged whether you turn up or not. I don't remember my child's swimming teacher saying "I'm sorry xxx is sick, would you like to come another day?" If you can be a bit flexible, payment for cancelled lessons shouldn't have to happen too often.

Rant over,

Tasha

I'm with Czerny on this. After moving to a monthly payment in advance system I was initially being quite flexible with cancellations still. When people were ill I wasn't charging them, but I was also giving everyone one free cancellation each quarter - no matter what the reason. I realised that I was making myself worse off by doing this. So since April I have been tougher and am sticking rigidly to my cancellation policy. The way I now look at it is any booked lessons for the week is money I'm expecting to be earning (and relying on earning!) so even if they cancel on the day due to illness I was still expecting to earn the money. My policy allows them to cancel with more than 24 hours notice to try to reschedule within the same week. It might sound unfair but with some students I would hardly get paid every time they came down with a cold and cancelled on the day. Of course if someone fell very ill and it affected several lessons then I would have a different approach, as I feel that would be unfair to charge for each lesson.

Lucid

Just wondering how those of us who were teaching today had all their students turn up?

I have 4 students on Monday afternoons and was expecting all 4 to turn up today, having checked with them last week. Two of the mums called this morning to ask if they could come earlier than usual (which was fine with me) and another one came at his usual time, but the last one didn't turn up. Not a huge surprise, as she's the most unreliable of all my students. But as I told her last week that I would be teaching today and asked her to let me know if she wasn't coming, I know I should insist on payment. I realise that her mum will probably say 'but it was a holiday!' and that it's possible that she had asked her daughter if there were piano lessons today and maybe the girl said 'no'. Rather than cause a fuss, I'm tempted to just let it go, especially as she was the last one and it just meant that I finished early!

I see I have expressed myself badly. I actually think teachers should charge. It was just that some teachers have mentioned that they do not charge and I was trying to say to those teachers that if they do not feel able to charge for illness, how about charging at least half so they do not lose out. My own policy would be to charge the whole fee because teachers, like everyone else, have to budget on what they are expecting to come in.

One of my lady students once said to me

' If you don't charge me when I'm ill, you are taking responsibility for my illness'..

It was a useful thought.

All of my students turned up today except one who has rescheduled for later in the week. A surprising success for a change.

Tasha

Yes, I see your point. And like you, it isn't easy for me to lose income when students are off sick. You have made me think again about my policy on this. But there are two problems:-

1 I am too soft!

2 I live in an area where everybody knows everybody else, and some go to other music teachers for lessons on other instruments, and are not charged if they miss. My own flute teacher doesn't charge if I miss for any reason (he is very generous!) and I don't feel that I can charge for sickness if other teachers don't. If I do, it might encourage them to go to another teacher, and then I would be even worse off.

I have surprised myself by not being particularly soft, but two things have helped:
1. Being paid in advance - you're then in the position of power and it's much easier not to give a refund than to ask retrospectively for money for a lesson that hasn't been received.
2. I use the ISM contract so parents can see my terms and conditions are all standard practice, not just me being unreasonable or money-grabbing.


This does make things trickier, but I'm pretty confident that people wouldn't leave a teacher they like for that reason alone, although it cause them to jump ship if there are other aspects they're not satisfied with. Frankly it doesn't really help that there are other teachers being soft too!


Indeed. And what's going to happen when all our pupils come down with swine flu??