MU Column: Coping through coronavirus

Coronavirus has hit music education hard. The Musicians’ Union has responded by making a large quantity of advice and resources freely available, as well as offering a further layer of support for our members, including a £1m hardship fund and a three-month subscription holiday. What follows is a summary of how we are focusing our efforts. You can find out more on our website (musiciansunion.org.uk) or by signing up to our free email updates (bit.ly/3atOdlJ).

Accessing income support

The government has launched schemes to support self-employed and employed individuals and information on how to apply and who is eligible for both schemes can be found at www.gov.uk. Employed teachers may be eligible for the government's Job Retention Scheme, whereby employers put employees on ‘furlough’ and the government covers 80 per cent of their salaries up to a limit of £2,500 per month. All employees, including zero-hour workers, are eligible, although some schools feel they are not able to furlough their teachers because they are in receipt of public funding – we have been challenging these decisions where appropriate. Some employed teachers have been furloughed by either schools or music services because of a variety of circumstances, including being unable to set up teaching online or because their teaching involves groups or ensembles, and we will be monitoring how this situation evolves when schools begin to return to normal.

The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, which provides 80 per cent of self-employed profits over a typical three-month period, is to be paid in one lump sum – with the amount calculated on an average income over a longer period. Those musicians who work as self-employed and who have been unable to work at all during this crisis will be eligible to apply. An issue with this scheme is that those with annual profits exceeding £50,000 are excluded from applying and the MU is lobbying hard to have this issue addressed. Anyone who is struggling to access either scheme can contact us for help.

We understand that some musicians are slipping through the net because of the nature of their work patterns. We have retained our ‘join for a pound’ initiative to keep membership affordable in these challenging times so please get in touch if you need help and support.

Online teaching contract

Our members have contacted us with a range of questions about online teaching. Two of the most common were about what contract should be used and whether we can supply a consent form for parents. We have devised new contracts for online teaching, which are available to download from our website.

Practical guidance for online teaching

There is much advice on the internet, which we have tried to filter and summarise on our website. We cover advice for both hardware (phones, tablets or desktop; cameras, microphones and speakers) as well as software, and are updating the information all the time to ensure teachers are able to teach safely and securely.

Preparing for and teaching a lesson is different online. We advise taking 15 minutes before the first online lesson with each student to test your set-up. After that first lesson, still allow time before each subsequent lesson for any necessary soundchecks or internet fixes. Both parties need copies of the music. Again, refer to our website for full guidance.

Safeguarding advice

Much teaching has successfully moved online, but a minority of employers are issuing blanket guidance against online teaching, believing it to be a safeguarding risk. However, there is no need to fear online teaching if safeguarding is carefully considered. We have provided much advice to support this; a summary follows.

• Before teaching online, protect yourself from accidental inappropriate contact with students by restricting your profile on each video calling app you use. Your user profiles should feature a business-like profile picture. Encourage your students to restrict their own profiles.
• Emphasise to students and their parents that video calling apps are for lessons only and not for other contact, such as for general messaging. Avoid using the app's messaging function for sharing lesson notes, as this could normalise social media messaging with pupils.
• Dress as you would when teaching face to face. Consider the background that your students will see, and carry out a video check from your camera to see what is visible. A neutral background is best – minimise mess and don't put anything too personal on display. It may be necessary to widen the frame depending on your instrument, so take care that this is well chosen and appropriate.
• Do not allow students to wear excessively informal attire or present against a messy background. If this happens, terminate the call and communicate the reason afterwards. The same applies if a student behaves inappropriately, and it may be necessary to take further action if this happens, just as you would with a face-to-face lesson.

The MU remains fully operational and is more active than ever during this critical period. We look forward to a time when normal teaching and musical life can resume, but until then we are committed to supporting the sector for as long as needed.