A teachers guide to lesson offers

Welcome to Lesson Offers 

Lesson Offers is a new system for organising 1-1 tuition. It does not replace blocks of lessons but sits alongside them to give you an alternative system should you wish to use it. 

What’s the difference between Offers and Blocks of Lessons 

Think of blocks of lessons as an “off-the-shelf” solution. Prices are calculated for you based on what you want to receive as a teacher fee. Cancellation and refund policies are pre-determined. It’s all been thought through to help you concentrate on the teaching. For many teachers, it’s working very well. But……. 

• What if you want to have a different cancellation policy? 
• What if you want to Offer a different price to a diploma student as opposed to a beginner? 
• What if you’re used to working with a notice period of 6 weeks if a student decides to cancel mid-way through a term? 

That’s where Lesson Offers come in. With an Offer, you are in control of the price, and the terms which govern tuition. 

Why build a new system? 

MusicTeachers.co.uk is here to serve the professional musician. We received some fantastic feedback from teachers about the ways in which they like to work and Lesson Offers is the result. We don’t want you to compromise when using the platform. Now, your work through MusicTeachers.co.uk can be organised precisely as you wish. 

How does the pricing work? 

Regardless of how many lessons are in the Offer, a flat platform fee is applied. Depending on your membership level, the platform fee will be between 22% and 14%. You can see more information about this on our Membership Levels page.

To keep platform fees as low as possible, a small service fee of £1 + 3% will be added to the Offer for the student to pay. The service fee is designed to cover the cost of collecting the payment. 

When you set the price of the Offer, you’ll be shown the student price and your take-home (after the deduction of the platform fee) 

How do I set my own terms? 

There are settings for the notice period, lesson cancellations and make-up lessons which you can customise to your liking. Your terms will be clearly presented to students on the Offer page when you send it to them. 

As required by law, Offers have a cooling-off period of 14 days built in. Once the student accepts and pays for the Offer, the cooling-off period starts. Within this period, the student has the right to cancel and be refunded. The cooling-off period ends either; after 14 days, or when the student takes the first lesson within that period. 

What if I need to make changes to the lesson schedule, once an offer is accepted? 

If the student requests a change, It depends on the terms that you have chosen in the offer. It’s possible for you to choose a policy where no changes to dates and times are permitted, in which case you do not need to make changes. 

Alternatively, you can set notice periods where requests to change the schedule must be received with 'X' days notice. Should a student give you sufficient notice, you can change the lesson schedule of your offer via your calendar. 

If the teacher requires to make changes, they can do so via their calendar at any point prior to the original date and time.

Please note that it is essential that any future changes you wish to make to the lesson schedule must be actioned, via your calendar, before the lesson(s) are held.

How else can an Offer be customised? 

We recommend giving your Offer to a student a personalised title. “Autumn term lessons for Rosie” or “First steps in piano for Raj” will help create a welcoming feel for the student reading the Offer. 

There’s also a description box to include information about expectations, resources, parking and so on. Take time to write it once, save it and then paste it into an Offer as you need it. 

What will an Offer look like for students? 

When you send an Offer, the student will be notified by email. Once logged in, the Offer is presented nicely on its own specific page on the website. Offers have security built-in so they can only be seen by you and the specific student you have sent it to. On the page, the student will see the information you have entered, the terms you have set and the price you have chosen. The student will have the option to pay and accept the Offer. Offers of over £100 will also see the student presented with options to pay in instalments. 

Inbox, calendar and invoice 

You’re able to make an Offer to a student directly from your inbox and you’ll see notifications in there regarding Offers sent and accepted. Accepted Offers will appear as green in your calendar and the lessons will appear on your invoice automatically once they have been accepted and paid for by the student. 

Leading the student 

Students are led by the teacher. In communicating an Offer, we recommend taking the lead and letting the student know that you will be sending them the Offer. Consider communication such as: 

“We will arrange the lessons here on the platform. I’ll send you an Offer with the lesson/s we’ve agreed on and you’ll be able to see all the information required. There’s a button on the Offer for you to accept and pay” 

Our office team are here to support you so if you ever need assistance in communicating with a student, just let us know and we’ll be there for you. 

FAQ 

I like blocks of lessons. Do I have to change? 

No. The lesson blocks system is not changing, It’s not being replaced. You are fine to continue using the platform as normal if that is what you’d like to do. Offers sits alongside - it doesn’t replace anything. 

Is this something for new students, or existing students? 

We’d recommend introducing the new system to new students in the first instance. If you and your existing students are comfortable using blocks of lessons, we suggest carrying on as usual.

Do I have to choose one system or the other? 

No. Both systems are there for you to use as you see fit. For example, you might consider creating an Offer for the first lesson, and then moving to blocks of lessons afterwards. It’s completely up to you. 

Is there an option for Offer lessons to be online? 

Yes. You can select online as an option in the location field.