A passion for literature
I was very fortunate, when at school myself, to have the pleasure of being taught by a man who opened my eyes to literature and who made the process of learning a pleasure. I was then doubly blessed to have the process repeated at university in both English and Ancient History.
Enjoy the work
As thousands of my students will attest, my passion is, and has always been, education in its broadest sense. I enjoy the face-to-face exchange of ideas as I too learn every day from these encounters. It never ceases to amaze me how much information can be passed from one human being to another via teaching, no matter what the age. It has always been my aim for students in my care to enjoy the work that we do together and, if they are following an examination course, to make the process as approachable and as fair as possible. When setting and marking papers at 11+, 13+, AS and A level, I was often reminded that English Literature papers needed to be accessible to candidates at all levels of attainment.
Not a job, but a hobby
One of the authors of my testimonials (for which thanks to all who have sent them over the years) points out that I enjoy teaching those candidates who for whatever reason “don’t get it” at first but move on to great things with encouragement. Perhaps my most pleasing achievement (and there have been a few) was seeing some of the students from disadvantaged backgrounds shine at the Rothermere course in Oxford for which I ran ‘outreach’, all of whom went on to study at Russell Group or Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Perhaps the best testimonial I have ever received came from my wife. When asked by a friend, whom she had not seen since university, what I did for a living she replied, “Oh Martin teaches, but it’s not so much a job, more his hobby”. I think she got it exactly, I love what I do and I love to see young people flourish in my areas of expertise.
