Over the few years I have been teaching, the number one thing I have struggled with is managing missed lessons and catch-up lessons. When I first started teaching, I was young and petrified of losing students, and so I basically bent over backwards to keep them – if they didn’t show, of course they didn’t have to pay, if they cancelled at the last minute, of course they could arrange another time with me. I had a studio policy that said I required at least 24 hours notice if a catch-up lesson was required, and that if you missed a lesson without notifying me, payment was still required. The problem was, I was scared to follow through – I didn’t want the confrontation, and desperately wanted to be flexible and accommodating so that my students would stay. I ended up stopping teaching for a while, as the lack of payment, messed up calendar and unpredictability didn’t seem worth it.
A couple of years later, in July 2008, I started teaching again. This time, with a more solid policy and with determination to stick to it. I did lots of research on other studio policies. I was surprised by how harsh a lot of them sound – “No catch-up lessons given, and no refunds”. What I noticed a lot of American policies had was the idea of a swap list. I decided I wanted to introduce a swap-list and also give catch-up lessons, but limited to four per student per year. The only problem was, starting fresh, I didn’t have the numbers to constitute a swap-list. So I let my students know that I would be flexible until the new year – 2009 – and then the swap list would come into affect. One thing I have stuck to is circumstances of catching up a missed lesson:
- I must be notified no later than 8am of the morning of the lesson
- If you miss a catch-up lesson, that lesson is forfeited
Now that my studio is nearly full, and I am returning to university to do post-graduate music study, I realize that I need to manage my time and my studio calendar very carefully. As promised to my students, I have set up my swap list. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, I have gained my students’ permissions to have their name, phone number and lesson time added to a calendar that all students have access to. This is how I have decided to work it:
- It is totally up to them if they would like their phone numbers included. (I haven’t had anyone wish to remain private)
- If they can’t make their scheduled lesson time, it is up to them (or their parents) to call another student and arrange to swap lessons with them.
- The person who needs to swap must notify me of the arrangement so that I can plan lessons accordingly.
- If someone misses their lesson for whatever reason, that lesson is forfeited.
- If two people turn up for the same lesson, I will teach the person who swapped as organised, unless they decide otherwise between them.
- They can utilise the swap list as frequently as they need to.
I have also decided to make a change to how catch-ups are given, as if I am fully booked in my teaching calendar, I do not want to go into my study or personal time each week, as I feel this is not sustainable, and I will fall into my old trap of becoming unorganised, or totally busy with catch-ups.
- Students are still entitled to four catch-ups per year.
- There will be a designated day every three months – probably a Saturday – for catch-ups.
- Students are entitled to one catch-up every three months. Any more missed lessons than this are forfeited.
- It is up to my students to make themselves available on the scheduled day for their catch-up at a time that is agreed upon between us.
The biggest thing I have realised, is that having a studio policy and sticking with it is all part of being professional, and does not make me an unreasonable person or less of a teacher. If someone is not happy with the arrangements in the policy, there will always be other students to take their place. Just writing that sounds harsh, but every studio out there has a policy, and at least I try to be as flexible as I can.
Does anybody have any feedback on how they have made their policy work in this regard? My swap list and newsletter on it goes out on Monday, so I can still change mine slightly if anyone has great ideas????
Thanks for your entry! I too am re-writing all my policies regarding missed lessons and am going to be much more strict. I’ve always felt more obliged to accommodate b/c I only taught part-time (up to 8 students) and, well, I was usually available. After I’ve experienced a few students constantly asking to come at different times b/c they have “too many things to be at at once”, I’ve HAD it. I don’t have advice for you b/c I’m at the same point you are but just wanted to thank you for re-enforcing what I’m going to start doing. Also, the swap list is an idea I hadn’t considered and will definitely be utilizing.
Cool! I saw the light on this regarding my own teaching practice several years back. Something about being firm on your policies and making clear that you’re running a business gets people to treat you more respectfully. Most of them…there are always a couple a year who pull no-shows and demand makeups. I can still be flexible, but any student with regular–unpaid–problems is shown the door.
What a great article. I am a violin teacher and feel so liberated in reading this. I thought I was alone on this. What really made sense was when the teacher talked about students and parents wanting the teacher to be flexible around their schedules and bend over backwards. This eventually leads to the teacher becoming disorganized and frantically trying to find time in his or her schedule for makeups. What parents don’t understand is that we have lives outside of teaching also. The time that their child signs up for lessons is reserved for them. Once that time is used up it isn’t like we can get that time back if a student doesn’t show or commit to that time slot. Allot of parents expect us to be accommodating and flexible because their child is involved in too many things. Then they get mad if we aren’t flexible in our schedules and rearrange our lives to accommodate their child. I think what parents need to understand is that we are music educators but in turn we are running a business and if we don’t stick to a lesson policy then our business suffers and our teaching suffers as well. For a while I was very burnt out in my teaching because I too was becoming more flexible in accommodating my students. It would always turn out that my students were missing their lessons on a consistent basis and all around the same time. It really would take the fun out of teaching because I knew that instead of spending time with my family and friends, I was teaching my students that could not make their regular lesson time and coming in on a Saturday to do lessons and or crediting them. This became such a burden because I was not only depreciating my quality time with my own family, but in turn I was hurting financially because of all the crediting I was doing. Unfortunately, I ended up doing a side job and more gigs to make up for my loss of income from my primary source of income, which was teaching. Anyways, what an ordeal and headache. I just need to be more rigid on my policies and stick to it. That way I will present myself as more professional and less flaky. If parents don’t like it they usually end up saying well you aren’t being flexible, and I can respond by saying I am only being professional by following my lesson policies. I know now why some teachers stop teaching, because of the headaches of dealing with parents that live in a bubble of their own. Not realizing that other people do have a life outside of their lives. Parents that don’t care or are inconsiderate are obviously not the students or parents we want to have to deal with on a weekly basis. I almost think it is easier just to let them go than it is dealing with them and their little worlds that they live in. I know if I were to take lessons from a teacher who expected me to be there at every lesson, I would make it my priority to be at my lesson every week. If I had to miss then I would know that I forfeited the lesson because that was my teachers time I took up and made him or her sit there and wait. I wish parents understood this. I know it sounds so easy because we are teachers and on the flipside of things they are different. But I do see it both ways and I still can’t understand why parents would act if though your time isn’t valuable to you but theirs is?!?!?! This is the world we live in I guess and every situation is different. I just wish parents would see things through the teachers’ eyes sometime. Well see you all soon! Your colleague and friend, Jonathan Landis
I’ve changed my policy numerous times over the years, so far the one that has worked the best is having a group lesson at the end of each term in place of make up lessons. I don’t charge for it they come if they want to. It’s also a chance for the students to be with each other in a group setting.