Paul W.

Paul graduated from Leeds University with a first in Maths and an MSc in Pure Maths. After a PGCE at Nottingham he taught A-level maths and further maths in North East England, mainly as head of department in a sixth form college. Now officially retired, he is still actively involved in maths education, maintaining an enhanced DBS certificate. As well as private tuition he also trains teachers for the Advanced Maths Support Programme. He regularly marks and writes papers for Pearson (Edexcel) and runs revision courses for PMT. He is married with three children and five grandchildren, all eight of whom studied maths in the sixth form.

All my tuition is currently online. For this to work well students need a computer with webcam, microphone and ideally a graphic tablet (costing about £50). Most tutees opt for a weekly session of an hour. In the early stages tutorials usually focus on questions related to a specific topic. We discuss how each question might be approached, and the tutee begins writing their solution on the whiteboard. What develops is then a conversation (in real time) about how the student is approaching the question, with tutor and tutee both able to write on the same screen. We can deal with gaps in knowledge as they arise, but the emphasis is on solving problems.  

Later on we usually move to past papers or specimen papers, giving tutees practice in choosing the best methods from their developing toolkit. Overall, it's more like a driving lesson than a lecture.