Fair payment to teacher

B

BestTeacher

New Member
Hey, I'm wondering what you think a studio should pay its teacher to make it fair, and to actually keep the teacher happy so he doesn't leave like they all do!

My proposal:
Group class:
Minimum of about $24 for 7 people or less class.
If more than 7 people, move to ratio 30%- 70%, teacher-student.

Private lessons:
20 lessons or less/week - $20
20-25 lessons/week- $24
25-30 lessons/week- $28
30-35 lessons/week- $32
35-40 lessons/week- $36

Plus like 2% for sales of packages.

What do you think? doesn't this motivate the teacher to teach and make them happy to be with a studio?
Is this fair?

If you have any suggestions or comments, please let me know
 
Are these pay for professionals? or your studio's trainee? what is your teachers' credential? I know some amateurs won't even teach for less than $30 per hour.
 
It depends on the price per lesson. You'd have to give more details for me to really comment
 
Hey,

I am thinking this pay system for anybody who is full time......social teachers, or competitive teachers .. basically the more you teach the more you get rewarded.....If I was the owner I would hire only good teachers anyways

Well the $30 they can get, if they just teach over 30 lessons.... actually they can make up to $36 here... this system is meant to be as an incentive..

A lesson is about $70 -$75/ private lesson on average
 
sorry I have to say your pay isn't very competitive. Maybe some good teachers will come to your studio, but after a while they might leave to become independent and take the students with them. You say you charge $70-$75 from students and give the teacher only $25 to $30, teachers won't be so happy.

They could go to some independent studio and they book with students directly and charge $70-$75 from students but pay something like $20 floor fee per hour.
 
I'm sorry, but I'm still not entirely clear on what you are saying.

Are you suggesting that if a private lesson student pays $75 for a 45-minute private lesson, that perhaps the teacher should get $20-36 for that lesson, and the studio should get $39-55?

I understand that studios have overhead, but...I'm sorry, it sounds outrageous and exploitative for a teacher to only make $20 while the studio gets $55, or $28 while the studio earns $47. (I'm assuming most studios do not provide full benefits like health, retirement w/a matching plan, and disability, though perhaps I am wrong.)

I would seriously hope that most teachers keep 50%+ of what their students pay them! (And more if they don't get benefits!)
 
I don't really get you guys.... where or which studios pay their teachers 50% or more???

Studios I know never pay more than $30... most studios start paying at $15/lesson...

Plus, Plus I did mean with benefits by the way.

As a full timer, you would probably be in the 25-35 lessons/ week anyways..... thats $28 or $32 per lesson, which studio offers this much I'd like to know?? you don't advertise, you have no risk and you don't even book your own students, the studio does all of this for you, so how is this not fair?

Thanks
 
ChaChaMama said:
I'm sorry, but I'm still not entirely clear on what you are saying.

Are you suggesting that if a private lesson student pays $75 for a 45-minute private lesson, that perhaps the teacher should get $20-36 for that lesson, and the studio should get $39-55?

I understand that studios have overhead, but...I'm sorry, it sounds outrageous and exploitative for a teacher to only make $20 while the studio gets $55, or $28 while the studio earns $47. (I'm assuming most studios do not provide full benefits like health, retirement w/a matching plan, and disability, though perhaps I am wrong.)

I would seriously hope that most teachers keep 50%+ of what their students pay them! (And more if they don't get benefits!)
Click to expand...
I know one teacher who was getting about $20 from a $70 50-minute private lesson. And this was one of the most senior teachers (5+ years). The junior teachers made a bit less.
 
I don't see how you can justify paying the teacher that low amount. Are you use to working with a francise type studio? Don't think many indies would go for what you are suggesting. Just my thoughts.
 
dude!

Where do you get your prices?
Most franchise studios pay $12-$20/lesson....

My structure starts at $20 up to $36/lesson plus commission.
I think you guys are forgetting, this is for people who work for an independent studio not independent teachers who just rent space.
 
Perhaps people here may be getting a bit confused between studio teachers and independent teachers?

I don't think a lot of people know that staff (or studio) teachers don't make that much for lessons. Staff teachers in my experience are mostly teachers who have been trained to teach quite recently (sometimes called "six week wonders"), or teachers with dance skills (sometimes competitive) looking to build a clientele and then go independent. The clients I have seen come to take from staff teachers are normally beginners and wedding couples.
 
BestTeacher said:
What do you think? doesn't this motivate the teacher to teach and make them happy to be with a studio?
Is this fair?
Click to expand...

I like a sliding scale to incent teachers to teach more and bring students in. But the reality of it is, most of these teachers do not have the draw to bring students in on their own. I think they depend on the studio to advertise and book their time.

And of the teachers that do have the skills to draw students in, they will want to go independent after a certain point so that they may earn a larger percent of the lesson money.

So, they may be happier than some other studios that pay less to their staff teachers, but in the end - the good ones will go independent?
 
I see, there are a big price disparity between studio teachers (especially teachers working for franchise studio) versus independent teachers.

May I ask which state is your studio located bestTeacher?

I remember seeing a contract between a new teacher with an franchise studio and that contract draft saying paying teacher somewhere like $10-$12 per hour and I posted this price on a different thread, then I've got another studio owner responded such price is an outdated price like 10 years ago. So if BestTeacher saying most studio he knows paying only $12-$20 per lesson, then probably the contract I've seen was true.

I've seen a lot of teachers started with studio like franchise but after a while all left to become independent because of the huge price disparity between studio teacher and independent teacher.
 
BestTeacher said:
dude!
Click to expand...

That (and from what I read of your responses a bit), it sounds like you are being defensive. I'm open to being corrected if that impression of your responses in incorrect. You asked for feedback - and you are getting it. If it is not to your liking, that's nobody's fault (or problem).

If you are sure that most franchises only pay 12-20, then why do you even need feedback to tell you that your payment scheme is more than fair?

If you are trying to differentiate rewards based on perfromance, I think you have a good scheme. I'm used to a world where the rewards for top performers are about 1000% (yes, thousand) more than the rewards for those who are only above average. I don't think your system will keep exceptional teachers, because you don't reward them well enough. But it will weed out the mediocre ones, and leave you with only the better teachers. I don't know whether or not it will fly in the market though. For eg, in your city, dance instructors might be rare and even average ones might be used to a sense of entitlement that they are special. Or perhaps you are living in a socialistic prone world where 'equality' is the order of the day regardless of merits. I just don't know what might derail the implementaion of it, but it seems like a good plan prima facie.

Be mindful that if you only pay the average teachers very low wages compared to the better ones, they will leave (or perhaps, you'll review them and let them go). At the end of it all,your 'good' teachers might be stuck with all kinds of students - both gifted and talentless. You've got to figure out how to keep their morale high. If all I did in my day was to teach idiots, I'd probably quit the job - esp. if I had a gift for teaching and knew that my skills would get me a job just about anywhere.
 
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