To instil the thirst for knowledge, the desire for excellence, and the confidence and self belief to achieve the very best that you are capable of. Learning with me is never, ever boring. I make prose dance and literature sing. I pride myself on the ability to make antiquated and challenging texts relevant to the present day, exciting to engage with, and a joy study. I take my students above and beyond the syllabus to develop the skills and aptitudes that will help them develop as thinkers. My students do not learn by rote and repetition, they learn how to stand on their own two feet. It is a conviction proved by experience that students perform the best when they are interested by what they study, when they have a set of intellectual skills separate to the specific texts studied, and when they have the confidence to say what THEY think in the context of coursework or an examination. “My aim is not to spare you the trouble of thinking, but to spur you to some thoughts of your own”.
5 years - Tutor, Lecturer, Ambassador - the Oxford University Access Programme
8 Years - Private tutor
2 years - Teacher of English
2 years - Pastoral Support Worker (SEN students)
2 Years - Tutor of Philosophy, English, Anthropology, at Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
DPhil from Oxford University, Supervised by Dr David Mills (Education, Pedagogy and the Social Sciences, Oxford), Professor Ian Loader (Law, Criminology, Oxford), and examined by Professor Stephen Ball (Education, University College London), and Dr Ian Thompson (Education, Teaching of English, Oxford).
4 A*s & 7As GCSE
3 As at A Level
1st Class MA (Hons) (Edinburgh) with numerous academic prizes for the best performing student.
MSc with Distinction (Oxford) and the Routledge Prize for the best performance in the year.
DPhil (PhD) in progress (Oxford) with a competitively awarded 4 year scholarship from the Economic and Social Science Research Council.
“believe it or not you've got me very excited about studying” Current student.
With regards to a particularly iconoclast text I suggested to one of my students “Luke, the first couple of pages were so horrible I couldn’t bear it. I stuck to it though (thinking about your words of wisdom in my head) and am actually now hooked! It’s incredibly interesting and I have read a bit further than I should have”
I worked in collaboration with the Sutton Trust and Wellington College to help students from one of the worst schools in London apply for bursaries to top private schools. Four out of six of my students were successful at pursuing their dreams at the best schools in the country!