Hello - I'm Owen, and I live just outside the City of Durham. I'm married with four kids. My background is academic - I have a PhD in Biblical Studies & Classics. My work experience has usually been a combination of teaching (at university, school, or through tutoring) and frontline work in the charity sector. I enjoy reading, watching sports, D&D, and playing games with my kids!
Tutor Profile
Teaching Experience
My teaching background was initially academic, lecturing against the background of writing my PhD and just after. That teaching - covering about 6 years - was in theology and ancient literature.
I've been teaching Humanities - English Literature and Language, History, Religious Studies, Philosophy & Ethics, Logic, Classics, Classical Civilization, Ancient History, as well as Beginner's Latin - for 8 years now. I've regularly taught both children and adults, and am comfortable with teaching kids from about age 8 or 9.
I've also occasionally taught supply RS in school, and take part in home educating our 3 school age kids!
Tutoring Approach
I think teaching to exam success is important, but there's a bigger purpose behind education - to become more fully ourselves. I'm interested in finding out both how students learn best and also what they care most about, and combining the two to develop a personalised approach enabling excellence. My experience is, even when teaching for exams, that finding subject matter and techniques the student enjoys is more likely to lead to success than pure drilling.
In a broader sense, I adopt a "classical" approach - I think connecting ideas and topics across different academic subjects aids in learning, and I think there is a certain natural progression to how children and young people learn, which is often not recognized in mainstream school.
Availability
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Qualifications
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctorate · University of Chester · Successful · 2022
Master of Arts
Masters · University of Durham · Merit · 2012
Bachelor of Theology
Bachelors · University of Chester · First · 2011
Reviews
Feedback
11
Published11
Unpublished0
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EkaterinaFirst Tutors
Owen is a great teacher, very smart, reliable. Always ready for classes and kids love his lectures.
SharynFirst Tutors
Owen has been tutoring my autistic teenage daughter in Classical Civilisation and I am extremely impressed with his approach. He very quickly understood my daughter's learning style and adapted his lessons to suit. He was able to get her to engage with his classes which is a major achievement as my daughter's very narrow interests do not include the humanities. It is clear that depth of his knowledge and expertise in the subject extends far beyond the level needed for GCSE but he is able to present the information in a way that my daughter can understand. His lessons are organised and interesting and his enthusiasm for his subject is clear. My daughter feels comfortable enough to ask questions and he is very patient with her allowing her to collect her thoughts before she speaks. I can't recommend him highly enough as a tutor!
HelenFirst Tutors
Owen helped my son prepare for his History and RE Common Entrance exams in just a month, and my son felt he learned a great deal from him. Owen focused on the specific areas that needed improvement and thoughtfully prepared targeted homework for practice. His teaching is professional, engaging, and encouraging. We only wish we had started working with him earlier.
GraemeFirst Tutors
Owen has been teaching both my Children (aged 11 and 8) for over a year now and I rate him extremely highly as I can see first hand that my children bonded very well and make a great efforts. Our aim was to get their English comprehension and writing to a higher level to support their transition into Secondary school where they have to hit the ground running. It is going very well. A highly recommended tutor.
CatherineFirst Tutors
Owen was quick to understand our son's needs and areas which had to be addressed in only the 4 weeks before the RS exam. Our son is sports mad and it was good that Owen used sporting analogies to structure answers and how to approach the aspects of RS. These will also be transferrable skills to apply in other subjects like English that require written answers.
Tuition onlineTuition at tutor's homeDBS checkedTuition at student's home (Travels up to 24 km)
Subjects Taught