Rita

I am an experienced tutor with a PhD in English and Comparative Literary Studies (University of Warwick, 2019), an MA in English Literature and Creative Writing (University of Warwick, 2013), a BA in Modern Languages (English and Spanish) (University of Coimbra, 2012) and Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.

​I have 10 years of experience in teaching in Higher Education across multiple institutions, as well as experience in teaching and tutoring GCSE and A-level students, and lifelong learners. My teaching experience includes:

• Tutoring GCSE and A-level students in literature and history at Kenilworth School (2019-2022);

• Teaching and contributing with structural changes to multiple undergraduate and postgraduate modules in English literature and history in the Department of English and the Department of History at the University of Warwick (2013-2020);

• Teaching across eight modules in literature and creative writing at undergraduate and postgraduate level at Edge Hill University, including a module I co-created, 'Romantic Movements,' as part of a new MA in Nineteenth-Century Studies.

Tutoring Experience

I have taught literature and history from the early modern period through to the twenty-first century across all levels of Higher Education. At Edge Hill University, where I currently work, I teach across eight different modules, mostly centred in Romantic and Victorian literature.

I am committed to equality, diversity and inclusion in all aspects of teaching. At Edge Hill, I taught as part of the University Foundation Certificate Fastrack Course, which enables students to be considered for a place on a degree in their chosen subject at the university, in lieu of achieving the UCAS Tariff points in the entry criteria for the relevant programme, while simultaneously equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge to study on an university degree.

At Warwick, I taught as part of the Widening Participation Transformations programme, through which I planned and delivered university-style tuition to a group of A-level students at Finham Park School in Coventry. This programme sought to enhance and encourage access to Higher Education amongst students with the potential to access it, regardless of background. I have also helped mature students fulfil their full potential and consider HE as a real possibility, notably through the module on gender and place in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature that I created for the Workers’ Educational Association.

I am also experienced in supporting the welfare and development needs of my students. As part of my role as resident tutor in the Residential Life Team, which I undertook for six years while at the University of Warwick, I was on call 24/7 to assist students with welfare concerns, so as to continue supporting their learning.

Tutoring Approach

My teaching experience has taught me that every student learns differently, and so in my sessions I help my students gain confidence by allowing them to explore different ways of studying, in order for them to discover which ones work for them. At the end of our first session, I put together a personalised learning programme according to the interests and the needs of each student.

I am committed to continuously improving my teaching through reading the newest pedagogy in the fields in which I teach. At all levels, I use active learning pedagogy, encouraging the students to be active in their own learning, and teaching my tutees study skills so that they can continue their independent study outside of our sessions.

For more advanced learners, at A-level and HE, I combine this pedagogy with "students as researchers" pedagogy. Research skills at both of these levels are central to the students' assessment. With that in mind, in my sessions I utilise a series of activities so that my students can learn through research and inquiry, in order to feel confident when asked to produce written pieces, whether this is answers to exam questions or essays.