Caroline

I am currently living between France and England after spending 5 years in South Africa. We have bought an old farmhouse, with some land and have begun renovating it and running a gîte. However, I am missing interaction with students and continuing my professional career and development, so am interested in becoming an on-line tutor. This will enable be to work in either of my homes.

I took a few years out of teaching in the UK and had a wonderful time learning many new skills as an Office Manager (Finance, policy writing, PA to Director etc.) for a charity that works with vulnerable young people in London. I think this experience widened my knowledge, understanding and experience of the wider world and personally developed me in a positive way..

One of my passions is supporting education in sub-Saharan Africa, where I have spent much time throughout the last 14 years - mainly in Uganda and South Sudan.

I have three grown-up children and two step-children and am very 'family and friends' orientated. I love reading, playing games, hiking, learning French, cinema and theatre. As well as mainstream teaching, I have recently acquired a distinction in an on-line TEFL qualification.

Tutoring Experience

I have extensive experience of teaching in the UK. I began teaching maths in a secondary school, but after two years moved to the role of Maths Co-ordinator at a middle school in the London Borough of Harrow. I worked both full and part-time (while my children were young and at school), for about 20 years, mainly as a class teacher. At this time I taught across the curriculum and year groups (Year 1 to Year 7).

More recently I worked as a tutor to support Year 6 students in literacy (SPAG) and maths. I was employed by my previous school from 2013 to 2016 by prior arrangement, when I returned from South Africa, taking classes on an ad-hoc basis.

As mentioned above, I have worked with and trained teachers, working for an NGO (Redearth Education), mostly in Uganda. This has hugely enriched my personal and professional experiences. I have mostly undertaken training in 'Developing good Practice', Maths and Literacy. I made these trips during UK school holidays.

Over the years, on and off, I have undertaken one-to-one GCSE maths tuition, for school pupils and adults.

I am currently employed by ASDAN China as a supervisor for students working on Extended Project Qualifications (EPQs). This is very enjoyable, but very part-time, and at this stage I would like to utilise my professional qualifications, skills and years of experience, more frequently and effectively.

Tutoring Approach

My approach to teaching is to be inclusive and with differentiation, making it accessible to all students and enabling each to fulfill their potential. I believe that if: lessons are fun; a student is positively encouraged; learning is connected to prior knowledge and experiences; students are given opportunities to use a variety of learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic or cognitive); students are motivated to ask questions and learn from mistakes, they can make excellent progress and gain a sound understanding of the teaching.