Samuel

I am a teaching and research professional with a PhD in History and 10 years’ experience teaching across schools, sixth form and university at leading academic institutions such as the University of Cambridge. I’ve been personally responsible for the teaching and pastoral care of well over 1,000 students, acting as personal tutor providing pastoral care to 50 of these. 80% of students in my most recent GCSE class received grade 9. With degrees in theology, political philosophy and history, I have taught religious studies, philosophy, politics, history and English. I also have private tutoring experience including university students. Within my more recent academic work, I have published and presented conference papers at a number of leading universities including Edinburgh and Cambridge. My particular topic of expertise is seventeenth century social and religious history, focusing on the disintegration of puritanism in England, 1643-1719 for my PhD thesis. In the next academic year, I plan to publish several articles and am also in conversation with a publisher in order to publish a monograph based on my PhD. I’m analytical, deeply caring and curious. I have two young boys, am involved in a local church, and play football in my spare time.

Tutoring Experience

I have taught in schools and at sixth form level for 7 years, instructing well over 1,000 pupils in Religious Studies, History, but I have also tutored whilst at Cambridge and led (as well as assisted) seminar teaching whilst a PhD student. I took on as much as they would give me, as I see teaching as an essential part of my career thus far and into the future. Whilst at Cambridge I studied at Tyndale House, where I organised a series of talks in which well-known resident academics could present alongside PhD students, sharing their work and receiving questions on the subject from scholars engaged in research in a broad range of topics, from the book of Hebrews to the prevalence of Cartesian philosophy in the later 17th Century. I have taught broadly, from introducing 12–13-year-olds to The Tempest, developing a basic introductory course on philosophy and anthropology for that age group, to leading Cambridge undergraduate seminars and supervisions on Hannah Arendt and Thomas Hobbes. European and broader church history is my strength, though I am open to new challenges in this area and in my time at Cambridge I have helped supervise for essays on topics ranging from the Miner’s Strike, 1984-5, to feminist ideas in Nasser’s Egypt.

Tutoring Approach

The school I worked at most recently operates upon the teaching philosophy of Charlotte Mason which emphasises the child’s natural curiosity and love of learning, as well as the importance of considering children as persons. Getting to know each student – their ambitions and their interests – is central to any teaching relationship and of the utmost importance in terms of motivation. Above all, teaching is a human endeavour and much more than information is being imparted. Curiosity, reasoning, questioning and genuine interest in the subject matter must be modelled, as well as a genuine interest in the opinions of others. I understand teaching techniques and taxonomies; Bloom’s taxonomy has greatly influenced the way I teach. With any new concept, or set of facts, I tend to begin with lower-order skills such as understanding and describing, then test whether a student can apply that knowledge to a new situation or example, before finally evaluating it using a central motivating question.