Simpedia

David B., Australia

I have been teaching Simply Music in two private schools for a number of years, and this year I will be starting at a local government school. These schools already had an established program of instrumental teachers coming into the school.

At one of these private schools I heard that the piano teaching position was becoming available, so I applied. (The principal is a friend of mine, which helped!) At the other schools I was asked to come because I taught some students who attended there, and the parents ‘pressured’ the school council. When the schools rang me, they had been so sold on Simply Music by the parents that I could have asked for anything! Parents are our best advertising tool. I would get them to talk to the principal, council and teachers.

There are several logistical problems, and others have referred to some of them, but the rewards are worth it.

LOGISTICS

LESSONS
Most school teachers don’t like numbers of students out of class together, so I teach shared lessons at recess and at lunch time. (They could also be taught before school and immediately after school.) The rest of the time I teach private lessons. This means that the students come out of class to the music room for their 25 minute lesson. Some students, particularly in higher primary and secondary, rotate their time slots so they don’t miss the same class each week.

PARENTS
The biggest difficulty is that most parents are unable to be part of the lesson, so it is imperative to keep in close contact by phone. Some parents however can arrange to be free during the day at a particular time, and are able to come to the school for their child’s lesson.

FEES
When a school already has an instrumental tuition program, the fees are probably already set to a consistent rate for all instruments. This happened at one school where I teach. I agreed to teach there on the understanding that the fees would increase over the next two years to what I charge. (Also, at the time I desperately needed students!)

REGISTRATION
In Victoria (Australia) anyone going into a school and working with children has to be registered with the Victorian Institute of Teaching. There is an annual fee.

HOLIDAYS
One thing to keep in mind is the number of days off school students have. It is about 13 weeks a year. It is important to keep this in mind when you are budgeting your income. Also, there are lots of excursions, camps, swimming, sports etc, etc. I charge for the Term, then give a credit on the next Term’s account for any lessons missed due to school functions during the previous Term.

BENEFITS

MORE STUDENTS
One of the biggest advantages of teaching in schools is that you have an opportunity to teach during the daytime as well as after school hours. For me, this is the main reason I do it. I also found that many students refer others to me out of school hours as well.

OPPORTUNITY
Teaching this way obviously doesn’t give the students the full benefit of the whole program (reduced parental input in the lessons), but it opens up the opportunity for so many people to experience the joys of Simply Music, who probably would not have the chance otherwise.

I hope this has helped explain how I go about teaching in schools. It is a great fun and great for your business.