Peter

I have about two decades of experience teaching History and Politics to A level and Undergraduate students and I currently teach these subjects at a sixth form tutorial college in Oxford. In this time I have designed many effective approaches to assist students through their courses by learning what is needed to excel in their exam coach I have helped students achieve excellent results in their exams and gain entry to their first-choice university including Oxford, Cambridge and the Russell group. I also tutor year 12 students, helping them make the step up from GCSE to A Level and improving their marks for the end of year exams. In my work as a local councillor I work take on a mentoring role with students in my local area, helping to build confidence and academic abilities in the run up to their exams.
I specialise in modern history from the 16th century to the present day with particular focus on British, European, American, Russian, Indian, South African and Chinese history. I also can assist with NEA, exam practice and developing revision techniques.
For Government and Politics I teach Ecologism, Nationalism and Anarchism as non-core ideologies and both the politics of the USA and Global Politics. Given the three summer exams I specialise in exam techniques, essay writing and syllabus revision for this subject.

Tutoring Experience

I have extensive experience with both private and public sector clients (currently Oxfordshire County Council and before this several London boroughs) and I currently work for a sixth form college in Oxford. I previously work at a number of schools and universities across in London and in Oxfordshire. I have taught many home-schooled pupils, those taking resits, as well as high achievers looking to get into elite universities and students looking to improve their grades to open up a wider choice of university options. While teaching at university I taught undergraduate and sixth form pupils writing techniques and exam coaching and how to build confidence in their abilities so as to successfully make the step up from A levels. In addition to my tutoring work I am active in political research and outreach to schools for my local council where I focus on environmental issues, especially climate change and sustainability - as well as the energy transitions that are required. I also work in local schools as part of a curriculum enhancement programme for the council.

Tutoring Approach

I offer clients a personalised, student-centred approach to tutoring so as to help students where they most need it and in a way that is most effective by playing to their strengths. In order to do this I conduct full assessments of each student’s interests, strengths and weaknesses and where they are with the curriculum in the introductory session. This then allows for planning out topics for future sessions. (This session would last only half an hour so be 50% of the quoted rate.) Through completing a thorough analysis of each student's ability I can then utilise their strengths to help improve their weaknesses. Each tutorial will be filled with subject matter that serves as content delivery or revision and I always ask for input from the student as to what they are interested in and would find relevant. I attempt wherever possible to ground the tutorial in a contemporary setting for politics bringing in examples from everyday life and current events and using the most recent developments in research for history, including orthodox and revisionist interpretations as well as those with unique political or social focus, and for politics I focus on tracking the trends and the signal rather than the noise of contemporary debates. I focus on ensuring the learning aims are achieved (as well as assessment objectives) and that all revision topics can be easily committed to memory. I do not have a designated writing technique that I try to teach pupils, instead I opt for an approach that assesses the student’s current aptitude and works on making small improvements incrementally over time to peak at the critical moment when exams are being sat, so as to deliver the best possible results, in line with what the examination boards are looking from them.