Simon

Hello there! My name is Simon Faulkner and I am a Lecturer at University College Birmingham. I live in Shrewsbury with my partner and our 10 year old son Luka. My main interests are surfing, playing my guitar and spending as much time in the great outdoors as possible. My cat Storzmy and dog Pixie keep me on my toes.

Tutoring Experience

I have been teaching at my current University for eight years, in which time I have been graded as an Outstanding teacher, exceeding expectations in all areas, eight years in a row. I have been recognised for my exceptional teaching by winning the Spotlight on Great Teaching award four times - an award voted for by students which is incredibly rewarding. I love my job, genuinely, love my job and believe this is one of the reasons I excel at it. I teach many themes in relation to Tourism and Aviation, covering geography, marketing, business studies and much more. I am a dissertation supervisor every year for 16 students and believe individual tutoring and support for dissertations can be a vital mechanism for students to achieve 1st Class Hons in this assessment.

My previous role was working at a 16-18 year old college campus, so I have experience in teaching many different age groups to a diverse collection of people.

My students differ in many ways, from mature University students to Secondary School learners, students from all over the world with different nationalities and cultural upbringings, students that have wide ranging academic ability levels and also ethnic origin. I find it immensely rewarding to teach such a vast array of people, all with their own stories to tell and different motivations to succeed in their education.

Tutoring Approach

I have found that the most successful way to ensure a student exceeds their potential is to create a learning environment that is interesting, engaging, secure and allows a student to be comfortable and confident. I am able to do that both in person and in an online learning setting.

I am very passionate about travelling and learning about the ways of life and culture of people from all around the world. Stories, anecdotes and experiences are part of a learning process. My lessons are engaging and vibrant and enable a student to remain focussed on the goal of the session.

My overall approach to teaching is that for however long the learners are in my lesson, they are captivated by the subject, motivated by the content and understand they are working to develop themselves both academically and socially.

I am able to help students with exam revision, devising study plans and working on the structure of answering essay questions to maximise grades. I work with students on essays, reports and presentations that they have been set in University or College - this is focussed on excellent research, strong writing skills but more importantly a focus on what the student is being asked to do. Finally, Dissertation supervision which is a fundemental element of a student's Degree and is a process that I have found requires strong communication, organisation and support at all times from supervisors.

If you have any questions, or would like to talk about any learning requirements, please do not hesitate to get in touch and I'll do my very best to help.