Simon

Hello! I'm Simon. I hold a PhD in structural biophysics/biochemistry, plus I have an honours degree in biochemistry and a masters in clinical chemistry. I also have eighteen years of experience working in clinical biochemistry laboratories within the NHS. This encompassed various roles and duties, including producing analytical results to help diagnose and manage patients, troubleshooting and problem-solving, discussion of patients with clinical staff, management and supervision of laboratory staff and research and development work. More recently, I also have considerable research experience, both in pure research and from working within the pharmaceutical industry.

I have seven years' experience working as a self-employed tutor in the sciences and maths. I have a demonstrable track record of inspiring my students in the subjects I tutor, consistently helping them to much better understand these subjects and achieve or exceed their hopes and expectations. I have numerous happy clients who would testify to this.

My approach is understanding students and establishing a rapport with students, which I tend to do quite easily. Obviously, different students have different abilities, personalities, strengths and weaknesses. Therefore I offer a bespoke service and tutorials are carried out in a relaxed atmosphere, where I will involve students in the session rather than just talking at them, giving friendly encouragement throughout. I also make extensive and effective use of various illustrative material and exercises (including past and mock exam papers, for those preparing for upcoming exams).

I LOVE tutoring, both because of some of the lovely people I meet along the way, and due to the fact that I make a difference.

Tutoring Experience

I now have seven years' experience as a self-employed tutor, during which time I have tutored many students and guided them towards achieving their aspirations and often, exceeding their academic expectations.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:

During my clinical laboratory career, I was frequently involved in supervising, teaching and training staff from various backgrounds, from school placement through to graduate.

As a PhD student, I was involved in a considerable amount of teaching, tutoring and mentoring activity:-
- I taught undergraduates in laboratory-based practical classes.
- I supervised and tutored my supervisor's final year honours student. She graduated with a first.
- During a fourteen month period of secondment to an academic institution in the USA, I was heavily involved in designing research projects for, supervising, teaching and assessing undergraduates within the research laboratory environment.
- Acting in a consultative, mentoring and teaching capacity for my guest American supervisor's research group, especially when he was not around.
- I have presented science and research work in various fora, from informal seminars to international conferences, including a prize-winning lecture I delivered in the USA.

Tutoring Approach

I appreciate that everybody has different expectations and needs, and these always have to be taken into consideration when deciding how best to tutor somebody. Initially, I would seek to find out your strengths and weaknesses and use those to tailor my tutoring to your requirements.

One's ability to learn and understand a subject are inextricably linked to one's interest in it. The classroom nature of school or college education can understandably make it unsuited to students who are struggling with a subject. Similarly, it can lead to the potential of strong students of a subject not being fully recognised and nurtured. In both cases, this can lead to dejection, frustration and disinterest. As a one-to-one tutor, I work very hard to inspire my tutees and make the learning process as enjoyable as possible. I see it as being much more of a coaching role than students might receive within a school class, and seek to bring the subjects I teach to life, drawing on life examples and anecdotal approaches to make even the most abstract of concepts relevant and fascinating. I always try to ensure that tutoring sessions are conducted in a relaxed and friendly way, as students feeling comfortable with their learning environment is important for sessions to be fully effective and useful.

For the interested learner who is not attending a course of study but wants to learn about "science" and all it's wonderful facets, I would be happy to provide a more independently-structured course, that is tailored to your interests and requirements.