Tutoring, music lesson and dance school website accessibility: trial lesson forms, schedules, portals and recital videos

Lesson businesses (tutoring centers, music teachers, dance and martial arts studios, driving schools) usually win a new student through three things: a "book a free trial lesson" form, a class schedule, and a tuition page. The person filling them in is often a parent on a phone, sometimes a parent or student with a disability, and sometimes an adult learner. Here's what to check on each of those pages.

1. The trial lesson or sign-up form

Every field (student name, age or grade, instrument or subject, preferred days) needs a visible label, not just placeholder text that disappears. Group related choices in a fieldset with a legend, and when something is missing, say what to fix in words, not only with a red border. (WCAG 3.3.2, WCAG 1.3.1, WCAG 3.3.1) See accessible contact forms and form error messages.

<fieldset>
  <legend>Which lessons are you interested in?</legend>
  <input type="checkbox" id="les-piano" name="lessons" value="piano">
  <label for="les-piano">Piano</label>
  <input type="checkbox" id="les-guitar" name="lessons" value="guitar">
  <label for="les-guitar">Guitar</label>
</fieldset>

2. Enrolling more than one student

Families often sign up siblings. Don't make them type the same parent name, email and address again for each child; offer "same as above" or fill it in for them. (WCAG 3.3.7)

3. Class schedules and calendars

A weekly timetable posted as an image or a colour-coded grid is hard to use with a screen reader or at high zoom. Put the schedule in an HTML table with headers, or a plain list by day, and don't rely on colour alone to show level ("beginner", "advanced") or "class full". Schedule and booking widgets must work with the keyboard. (WCAG 1.3.1, WCAG 1.4.1, WCAG 2.1.1) See booking widgets and accessible tables.

<table>
  <caption>Tuesday classes (example schedule)</caption>
  <tr><th scope="col">Time</th><th scope="col">Class</th><th scope="col">Level</th><th scope="col">Spots</th></tr>
  <tr><td>4:30 PM</td><td>Kids ballet</td><td>Beginner</td><td>Full</td></tr>
</table>

4. Tuition, packages and policies

Put lesson prices, package options, and cancellation or make-up lesson policies on the page as text or a simple table, not inside a flyer image or an untagged PDF. (WCAG 1.1.1, WCAG 1.3.1) See accessible PDFs.

5. Student and parent portals, payments and logins

Many studios use a third-party portal for registration, payments, practice logs or homework. Test that you can log in, pay and sign the waiver with only the keyboard, that buttons have names, and that the login doesn't depend on a puzzle CAPTCHA or remembering a code you can't paste. (WCAG 2.1.1, WCAG 4.1.2, WCAG 3.3.8) If something fails, report it to the portal provider. See CAPTCHA and login accessibility.

6. Recital, belt test and demo videos

Performance videos are a big sales tool. Teacher introductions and demo lessons with speech need captions; recital clips set to music don't need captions for the music itself, but shouldn't autoplay with sound. Background video loops on the homepage need a visible pause button. (WCAG 1.2.2, WCAG 2.2.2) See video captions and transcripts.

7. Teacher bios, photos and readable design

Teacher photos can get short alt text ("Ms. Rivera at the piano" (example)); decorative studio photos can have empty alt. Bright brand colours and text over photos often fail contrast, so keep body text at 4.5:1 and check the page at 200% zoom on a phone. Name links by where they go ("See piano tuition", not "Learn more"). (WCAG 1.1.1, WCAG 1.4.3, WCAG 1.4.10, WCAG 2.4.4) See alt text examples and the contrast guide.

Common mistakes

• The class schedule is a JPG of a printed timetable.
• The trial lesson form uses placeholders instead of labels and shows only a red outline on errors.
• "Class full" is shown only by a grey colour.
• A chat or "first lesson free" pop-up traps keyboard focus on mobile. See pop-ups and chat widgets.

A 15-minute check you can do today

1. Book a trial lesson using only Tab, Shift+Tab, Space and Enter. Our keyboard test explains what to look for.
2. Submit the form with a required field empty and read the error out loud: does it say what to fix?
3. Open your schedule at 200% zoom on a phone-sized window and check you can still read every class time.
4. Play your top demo video with captions on and check names and terms are spelled correctly.
5. Run a free homepage snapshot to catch missing alt text, unnamed buttons, missing labels and low-contrast text.

Platform steps: WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, GoDaddy. Our scan is automated, so it finds only part of the barriers on this page and doesn't test third-party student portals, payment pages or videos for you. Related: fitness studio websites, childcare and preschool websites, accessibility statement template.

This is general technical guidance, not legal advice, and it doesn't certify compliance with the ADA or any law.

Want the fixes written for you?

Start with a free homepage snapshot. The $149 Fix-Pack scans up to 10 pages and gives copy-paste fixes for your platform within 48 hours, with a 14-day refund promise. See a sample report first.

This is general technical guidance, not legal advice, and it does not certify compliance with the ADA or any law.

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• Squarespace accessibility fixes: alt text, contrast, forms and more
• Wix accessibility fixes: a practical checklist

All guides

This guide is general technical information, not legal advice. Following it does not certify ADA or any legal compliance. Automated checks find only part of accessibility barriers.