Matt the Maths Tutor
“I am one of the lucky ones as mathematics has always made a lot more sense to me than to other people.”
Please get in touch to find out how I can help you as I am willing to teach anyone at any level and really enjoy the challenge, especially with those who consider themselves “maths-phobic”.
My focus is on building confidence and understanding in mathematics and, having taught students of all ages and over a huge ability range, I can apply a varied range of techniques to connect with each individual.
I will always do my very best to make mathematics easier to understand, even if that means trying 10 different explanations.
I am yet to give up on a student and believe that EVERYONE (including you!) can succeed in improving their maths skills.
I take on new students throughout the year so if you’d like to discuss maths tuition or anything else I might be able to help with then please get in touch.
Qualifications
MMath – Mathematics – UMIST, Manchester (1999 – 2003)
MPhil – Mathematics Research – The University of Manchester (2003 – 2005)
PGCE – Mathematics – Truro College, Cornwall (2005 – 2006)
Experience
Mathematics Tutor & Online Mathematics Tutor – MW Maths Tuition (1999 – Present)
Mathematics Examiner Team Leader – Edexcel/Pearson (2013 – Present)
A level & IGCSE Mathematics Examiner – Edexcel/Pearson (2009 – Present)
Online Tutor Trainer – Macmillan Science & Education (2013 – 2014)
Mathematics & Statistics Lecturer – Cornwall College (2008 – 2013)
Mathematics Tutor – Abbey College Manchester (2006 – 2007)
How it all happened…
After leaving secondary school in North Wales, I moved to Manchester to study mathematics as part of a MMath degree at UMIST. It was during this time that I first started working as a private maths tutor and began to understand just how much some people struggle with mathematics.
After my MMath, I completed an MPhil in mathematical research based around cryptographic protocols and their security. At this point I was still doing lots of private tuition and decided to formalise this with a PGCE teaching qualification.
Upon completion of my PGCE, I took a job in Manchester at Abbey College, an independent sixth form college which specialises in resits for students requiring high grades to get into their preferred university. It was essential to quickly build confidence and understanding with these students as most of the time a B-grade just wasn’t enough!
In late 2007, the opportunity arose to work at Falmouth Marine School, part of the larger Cornwall College Group and I jumped at the chance – Cornwall has always been a very special part of the world to me and living and working there was great!
Until the end of 2009, I lectured in mathematics and statistics at Cornwall College’s Camborne and Falmouth sites where I taught across the curriculum, covering Access Maths and various foundation degree modules including Marine Science, Forensic Science and Psychology.
In January 2009 I became an Examiner with Edexcel/Pearson, specialising in the A2 Core Mathematics 3 examination and I continue to mark this paper and various others at GCSE and A level. Marking exam papers allows me a great insight into how students perceive and approach exam questions and this has been a great benefit to my teaching. I was very pleased to be asked to step up and manage a team of other A2 examiners in 2013 and this is a role I continue to enjoy.
2009 was certainly a very busy year for me as this was also when I first started providing tuition using online interactive technology and since then I have delivered thousands of hours of online lessons to several hundred students. Comparing all of my experiences so far, I would say that online tuition can be just as successful as face-to-face tuition and it is possible to deliver high quality live online tuition just about anywhere in the world!
Until early 2013, in addition to my face-to-face and online private tuition work, I taught at Falmouth Marine School where I lectured on the Marine Science and Marine Sports Science Foundation Degree programmes and provided general cross-curricular maths support. I was also part of a small team from Cornwall College working with the MOD in Saltash to deliver a HNC Engineering programme.
In Summer 2013, I left the South West and moved to the Malpas, Cheshire area. However, as most of my teaching took place online, I was been able to continue teaching students from Cornwall despite being 300 miles away!
Over the next few years, I gradually developed my tuition service to the point where I regularly teach students all around the world in various time zones. I am very pleased with how everything has worked out so far and that I have been able to help hundreds of students to improve their understanding of mathematics and, as a result, their confidence, grades and employability.
In early 2017, I returned to Cornwall and it is good to be back!