Guidelines for Teaching Contracts: Setting Up Payment Rules from the Outset

By Janine Bray-Mueller

What happens to your teaching business when students don't pay or don't pay on time?

There aren't any rules unless you put them into place yourself. Set the rules at the first meeting because a freelance teacher's income is jeopardised when they are not paid on time, and their bills cannot be paid. And that is why you should always set payment rules from the outset. A regular income - a steady cash flow - keeps your teaching business alive. Remember, 80 per cent of businesses fail because they run out of money.

Make sure you have a teaching service contract detailing your payment policies: when students are expected to pay and what happens when payment is late when customers sit before you.

Teaching service contracts secure a legally sound footing for freelancers when making payment claims. It is their only legal and binding proof a teaching payment agreement exists between them and their students. In fact, should their relationship with one of their student turn sour, and they need a lawyer, the first thing they will be asked is: Do you have a contract?

Contracts are simple reality checks to decide whether freelancers can work with a customer. If both sides respect the contract, they can work together.

A lawyer is the best person to guarantee a contract is made correctly. On the other hand, they are expensive. For most teaching freelancers, a lawyer is a luxury they cannot afford - so a self-made contract must suffice. A self-made teaching service contract is better than none. If you have never prepared a business contract before, you may be quite daunted by the prospect of creating one.

For example:

§ What details must be written into contracts?
§ What elements are usually forgotten in agreements (absenteeism, etc.)?
§ Situations when a lawyer must check the wording in contracts

For this purpose, freelancers can use a teaching service agreement example as a basis for creating their own contracts. The contract example presented is for educational and demonstrative purposes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books on Demand
• Release date: Dec 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9783755719168

Janine Bray-Mueller

Janine Bray-Mueller, a freelance teacher with 30 years of teaching and marketing experience, has served on committees such as a two-term voluntary member of IATEFL's Marketing Committee, Editor of HELTA (Hamburg) and an Editor of ETM (English Teaching Magazine), which was popular in Germany for many years. In addition, she has given presentations at the TESOL France annual colloquiums and has also been published in several language teaching magazines. Meanwhile, Janine has decided to share her marketing knowledge by writing a series of books giving practical advice to teaching freelancers. These books help colleagues in their teaching careers find students and earn enough to live from their work.

Book preview

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QUICK READS FOR BUSY

FREELANCERS

Contents

DO YOU NEED TEACHING CONTRACTS?

How to avoid late paying students

Make rules (pay upfront and have a contract)

Penalty clauses for late or breach of payments

Ask for upfront payments

When upfront payments are not possible

A contract is a form of reality check

ARE TEACHING CONTRACTS USEFUL?

Supplierversus Service Provider

Contract priorities

WHAT GOES INTO A CONTRACT?

Basic requirements

WHAT USUALLY GETS FORGOTTEN?

1. Cancellation policies

2. Sickness

3. Late payment policies

WHEN SHOULD YOU ASK A LAWYER?

When customers want changes to the contract

CHECK LIST

CONTRACT BLUEPRINT

EXAMPLE of a Teaching Service Contract

MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONAL ADDITIONS—EXAMPLES

Independent Contractor Relationship Clause

Non-Compete/Non-Soliciting Agreement

Examples: COOLING-OFF PERIOD

Example: LEARNING GUARANTEE

Example: ADDITIONAL LESSONS

Example: TRANSLATION WORK

Examples: INSURANCE/LIABILITIES

ADDITIONAL CLAUSE IDEAS FOR ONLINE COURSES

Examples: HEALTH AND LEARNING ISSUES

Examples: FLAMING AND MISBEHAVIOUR

Examples: LATENESS

Examples: CONNECTION PROBLEMS

Examples: ONLINE MINOR STUDENTS

WEBSITES AND DATA PROTECTION AGREEMENT (GDPR)

Data Protection Agreement for Websites

NOTE: Guidelines for Teaching Contracts is a republished, completely revised short book version of chapters previously published under The Teacher’s Guide to Pricing Matters, by Janine Bray-Mueller, 2019, BoD - Books on Demand, Norderstedt, Germany.

Do You Need

Teaching Contracts?

There are no rules (governing a teaching service) unless you put

them into place yourself

That is why you should always set payment rules from the

beginning

As a foundation for your work, contracts set up shared communications between yourself and the customer concerning receiving and giving tuition.

It also sets the groundwork for negotiations when things go