Jonathan

I graduated from the University of Birmingham in the summer of 2010 with a first class degree in maths, with honours, having previously attained grade A in my maths, further maths and physics A levels in 2007. I’ve been providing maths tuition as my sole job ever since.

I’ve always enjoyed maths (even though I sometimes didn’t want to admit it!) and I’ve always felt that I possess the key personality traits - patience, accessibility, friendliness and enthusiasm - that make for a great teacher. The responses that I’ve had from the people with whom I’ve worked in the past thirteen years have assured me that this is the case, although I’m well aware that there’s always more to learn and always room for improvement!

Tutoring Experience

Since leaving university, I’ve been fortunate to have worked with hundreds of students of all age ranges and ability levels - from primary school students, to GCSE and A level students, all the way to mature students who are either looking to brush up on their maths for fun or who need help with a qualification they’re working through as part of their career path - all of whom had a wide range of targets and expectations for whatever it was they were working on.

Tutoring Approach

My approach to teaching has always centred around patience and clarity, along with creating an atmosphere in which whoever I’m working with feels comfortable enough to stop and ask a question when they don’t understand something - and to not be afraid to tell me when what I’m saying makes no sense whatsoever! (Which fortunately only happens occasionally!)

A common problem that students relate to me is that their teacher in school goes through work too quickly and that once they are behind, it is almost impossible, especially with a subject such as maths, to catch up again. I completely appreciate the difficulties that teaching a group of people can present - having done so on occasion in the past myself - but the main advantage of one-to-one tuition is that the work can be tailored specifically for one person. Some work that would ordinarily be considered difficult might be covered quite quickly (provided, of course, that it is fully understood), and other topics that teachers would normally breeze through might be focused on more extensively if they prove problematic to the student.

Topics are worked through from start to finish (except perhaps for when they are simply being revised) with staggered examples and questions so that the progression from the fundamentals through to the most difficult aspects seems as fluid and natural as possible. When the time is right, I’m more than happy to challenge the student a little in an attempt to progress them more rapidly, but I’m equally happy to revisit a topic as many times as is requested and necessary in order for it to be fully understood.

If you’re considering having one-to-one tuition (or arranging some for a family member or friend) then the most important thing to understand is that the more work you put into it, the more rewards you’ll get out of it. One or two hours a week by themselves will show some improvements, but if the sufficient independent work is done prior to and after one-to-one lessons then the benefits are potentially limitless! (And on that note, I'm happy to set homework questions to be attempted in between lessons.)