Running a school
A language school's timetable: when a missed lesson should be paid for
Published 13 September 2026
A rule about missed lessons that lives only in the contract gets argued about every month. Written into the register, it applies the same way to everyone and nobody has to decide it again.
A missed lesson should be paid for when the seat was kept and the student did not give the notice the school asks for. It should not be paid for when the absence falls under a rule the student knew in advance. What makes that fair in practice is where the rule is applied: in the register, during the lesson, the same way for every student.
Why the rule turns into an argument
Most schools have a policy. Few apply it the same way twice. The teacher remembers who warned them in Viber, the administrator counts from a spreadsheet at the end of the month, and the invoice gets corrected when a parent objects. Each step is reasonable on its own. Together they make the charge look negotiable, and that hurts the relationship more than either charging or not charging would.
What each mark in the register should mean
| Mark | What happened | Charged |
|---|---|---|
| Attended | The lesson took place with the student in it. | Yes |
| Late | The student came in late, and the lesson still took place. | Yes |
| Missed | The seat was kept and the teacher's hour was spent. | Yes |
| Excused | The absence falls under the school's rule for notice or illness. | No |
Decide what excused means before the first lesson
- How far ahead a student has to say they will not come, and where they say it: a message to the teacher, a note in the schedule, a call to the office.
- Whether illness and emergencies are excused, and whether the school asks for anything to show it.
- Whether a missed group lesson is ever excused, given that the group ran either way.
- Who marks it. It should be the teacher, during the lesson, not an administrator a month later from memory.
Let the register be the bill
When each student's plan, per lesson, a package or a monthly fee, is counted against the attendance the teacher recorded, marking who came already does the bookkeeping. What a student owes then follows the week as it happens, instead of being put together at the end of the month and argued over.
What the student should see
Their own lessons, in their own schedule and in the calendar they already use, so a lesson that moves moves there too. Their calendar names the lesson and never the other students in it. And their payment history in their own account, not scattered across a chat.
Move a lesson instead of losing it
Many missed lessons are really moved lessons that nobody rebooked. A lesson dragged to a new time should update every calendar that follows it, and the hours a teacher leaves open should be something a student can book without writing to anyone. A moved lesson is not a missed one.
How this works in EdTechCore
In EdTechCore the register is the bill. The teacher marks who came, and each student's plan is counted against that attendance: attended, late and missed lessons are charged, excused ones are not. See how the schedule works.