Cliff

I studied Maths in Manchester University, the Maths Department being regarded then as one of the top ones in the country.I've had two spells of teaching Maths in schools - in the sixties and the eighties/nineties. Since then, I've taught a mixture of Maths and Computing in further education colleges. I've now retired, but for several years have been an examiner for Edexcel in two of their further maths A-Level, especially pure and mechanics papers.

Tutoring Experience

In the sixties, I taught Maths for two years in Colfe's School in Lewisham - then a voluntary aided boys' grammar school - and was able to teach them in much the same way as I'd been taught myself only a few years earlier.
When I returned to Maths teaching in the late eighties, I had the chance to do a post-graduate education course which was designed for mature entrants. I emerged with a PGCE. I then taught for about ten years in Meridian School in Royston - a co-educational upper school in the local three-tier system.
Since then, I found my way into teaching in further education colleges, mostly North Hertfordshire College, teaching various forms of ICT and computing, and then A-Level Maths and Further Maths, as well as contributing to an extended degree programme which prepared mostly older students for various science degree courses.

Tutoring Approach

There are two things which I particularly enjoy about teaching. The first is being able to set out a topic in such a way that students have the chance to understand it for the first time. The second is reacting to questions which show that a student has not understood what I've shown them - that then forces me to find a different way to help them into the subject, and that's a challenge which I enjoy.
I tutor individuals in my own home, not least because of the huge range of resources I have on my computers so I can print out worksheets etc when they're needed. Obviously, while the coronavirus is determining our lifestyle, meeting students is not possible.
I can also tutor using Zoom, for which I have a high definition camera which enables the student to see what I'm writing on paper. They then get a pdf of that paper after the lesson. Or I can write on a virtual whiteboard, and send the study a copy after the lesson.
Most of the private tutoring I do is responding to what topics a student says they've found difficult to understand, or to which exercises they've not mastered. But I'm obviously able to take someone through a whole syllabus if needed. I'm more at home in A-Level work and above than in GCSE - I'm not the right person for someone who's struggling with foundation level GCSE.