Full-time professional Geography Tutor for year 7 to A Level. Experienced high school teacher and examiner at GCSE and A Level.

Find out more about Will

• When did you develop an interest in your chosen field and in private tutoring?

  I’ve always enjoyed geography – at school, through university and then in my career where I was using the skills and knowledge developed as a geographer while working in government. I’ve become more interested over time – both as I came to understand how valuable the skills and knowledge geography gives you are, but also as geographical issues (climate change, migration, urbanisation…etc) become more important to all our lives.
  
  I became a geography teacher because I wanted to help others gain those skills while developing their understanding of their own place in the world.


• Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students (and possibly those you like a little less).

  
I love how geography can help us make sense of the world around us. So, I particularly enjoy teaching those parts of geography that are obviously relevant to us – climate change, the growth of cities and global economic change. However, I also really like the challenge of finding ways to connect more challenging and abstract ideas to students’ experiences and everyday lives.

• Did you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you?

  Many amazing colleagues who I have worked with and learned from. One of the best things about teaching in a school is the chance to pinch ideas every day from colleagues and bring it into your teaching and tutoring.

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What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

  Empathy and understanding of the students and their abilities and ambitions.
  Deep knowledge of the subject.
  Experience of teaching the subject and explaining its more complex ideas.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.


  When former students send me photos of the real geography they’ve seen around the world. They know I love to use real geography examples in my lessons and tutoring. But I particularly enjoy it because it shows that they have made the connection between what they’ve learned and the real world and that they weren’t just learning random facts for an exam.

• What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or still facing in your subject?

  Teaching the Changing Places unit of the A Level for the first time when it was new to all teachers and students. It was very unlike anything I had learned at school. It remains very unlike anything in the GCSE course which is I think why many students struggle with it and I can empathise with that. I’m happy that having written my school’s curriculum on it and taught it many times I am now very familiar with it. I’m even writing a textbook on it!

• Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different?

  Not really. I think there is something interesting in all elements of geography. The most interesting bits of geography though are where different topics overlap – for example, how the growth of a city affects both climate change and the human development of its country.

• What makes you a Superprof (besides answering these interview questions :-P) ?

  That I have a lot of experience in supporting students to achieve their potential and put in the effort to make sure every session is tailored precisely to their needs.