Josef

I am a qualified teacher of mathematics who has taught in secondary schools for five years. Before that I graduated with a first-class degree in Maths and Philosophy from the University of York in 2015.

I am a knowledgeable and enthusiastic mathematician with an excellent knowledge of the school mathematics curriculum and a keen awareness of pedagogical techniques.

Tutoring Experience

I have worked as a teacher of mathematics at secondary schools in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire over a period of 5 years - during that time I have worked with success with students of all different ability levels and needs. I have also worked with all secondary-level age groups from Year 7 right up to Year 13 Further Maths students. During that time I have taken multiple classes through their exams at both GCSE and A-Level.

Tutoring Approach

When I am teaching, I place a great emphasis on ensuring that students have all prerequisite knowledge of whatever topic it is they are covering in place before progressing any further - in my experience, one of the ways students develop frustration with maths is when they are attempting to acquire new knowledge with insufficient foundational knowledge, and I think focusing on prerequisites means that that frustration cannot take root. It also provides students with the confidence that they can attack more challenging problems.

Generally, when I am teaching, I like to provide examples of each new skill that I am teaching, usually followed by a similar example so the student can demonstrate that they can replicate what they have just been shown. After as many example-problem pairs as is necessary, I would move the student on to independent practice, using questions that gradually increase in difficulty.

I believe that my teaching experience has given me a good deal of flexibility in adjusting the pace of the lesson and the challenge level of the content to whoever is in front of me. No two lessons will be exactly the same but I will always work from the same principles!