Snow days

The country is in the grip of severe winter weather, with many schools being closed as a result. This again raises the question whether visiting music teachers should be paid for those days when, through no fault of their own, they were unable to work because of school closures? Ultimately the answer to this question will depend on the nature of the contract between the teacher and the schools and members are encouraged to seek individual advice from the ISM as to their particular situation but, in general terms, we think the position is likely to be as follows:

Teachers paid by the school

Where teachers are paid directly by the school where they teach, whether on an employed or self-employed basis, we believe that there are strong arguments that the school should pay teachers for days when they were unable to work, due to an unplanned school closure. This is consistent with the position for employed staff. There is no question of staff being ‘docked’ a day’s pay in respect of unplanned closures. We do not consider that visiting music teachers should be treated any less favourably.

Teachers paid directly by parents

The position is much more difficult for those teachers who contract directly with the parents of their pupils. In that situation both the teachers and the parents can be regarded as ‘innocent parties’ in the sense that they would have had no input into the decision to close the school. Our Agreement for Private Music Tuition states that ‘the teacher will charge for any scheduled lessons which the pupil does not attend, unless the teacher chooses not to do so because of exceptional circumstances’. However, our view is that it would usually be unreasonable for a teacher to charge for a lesson in circumstances where neither the teacher nor the pupil was able to attend because of the closure of a school. Such circumstances should be regarded as genuinely ‘exceptional’. Of course, teachers in this position will also have a contract with the school (often unwritten) whereby the school permits the teacher to use the school premises for lessons. Some schools charge teachers a modest fee for the use of their facilities. Theoretically it might be possible for a teacher to sue the school for loss of earnings caused by an unplanned closure, but we think the courts would be reluctant to make a finding against a school that was considered to have acted reasonably.