Tutoring chemistry in essex and career progression

Tutoring is a useful tool in making the most of your time time while studying. Tutoring should be seen as an investment into your future, your career and your love for the subject you're studying. However, it cannot only provide a fantastic impact on general knowledge in a particular subject (e.g Chemistry) but helping you to improve your confidence and attain a positive attitude towards learning. Don't be afraid to invest in your own future for you only get one shot at your education, so make sure it's the best effort you can give.

I hope to cover briefly, a few things that have been on my mind: firstly- statistics (boring statistics I know) however the information I found is fascinating. Secondly, what careers do pupils who take on science tutoring (specifically chemistry) decide to embark on.

On with the statistics:

An interesting statistic provided by essex.gov.uk stated:

 'Since the national roll out in 2009, over 45,000 tuition places have been taken up by pupils in Essex schools.'

In 2009 there were 89,253 pupils in secondary schools with in Essex, from this number 45,000 pupils took up tuition; this is over 50% of the pupils (This information was taken from School-Places-in-Essex ). Interestingly this is only the tuition that the schools know about, there may be many more pupils who decided to take on private tuition.

The idea is that tutoring can have a positive impact on your future; pupils have stated that they feel their lives are significantly improved because of the new-found confidence their tuition experience has given them (essex.gov.uk)

Tutoring chemistry for the future:

As a science tutor (with a passion for chemistry) I have been amazed by the different careers pupils with a love for science have taken. Lets take into account A-level chemistry, a good grade achieved in A-level chemistry can open careers in medicine, healthcare and pharmacy; as well as careers in law as many pupils have mentioned that taking chemistry helps to cope with difficult concepts, which they may experience in law.

Forensic science is very popular at the initial stages and many pupils desire to be working to help fight crime using blood analysis and fingerprints; however, in reality the expectation is not always the same as what you would see on shows such as CSI and NCIS.

Of course there is also a career in teaching which is very popular with science graduates as their is always a need for teachers. As well as this, nursing is a popular field which can offer work stability, good rates of pay and a career that is never boring.

progress your career, check these out.

The list is endless..........


A strong science based background can offer key skills to develop in most careers. So it is vital that effort is put in at the beginning to help strengthen your educational development.

Tutoring can hold the key; giving you a good foundation to help you prepare for the areas within science (biology, chemistry or physics) that you are still unsure on. Invest now to give yourself the best possible start to your future.

The truth

Of course having a career based around science is where my profession started from, so I am coming from a biased standing point due to my passion for science; however, it is important to stress here that all subjects should be treated with the same time and effort into achieving what you are capable of; however, one truth is more roundly accepted and that is this:

Education is the key to a civilised society and of course a better world.

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Educating Colchester with science

The school with the best performance in A-levels and other academic qualifications was Colchester Royal Grammar School (this was a statistic taken from an article produced within the Telegraph). This is a fantastic piece of data for Britain’s oldest recorded town.

Is our education system preparing our pupils?

Education needs to always be improved; it is a valuable asset to have and future generations need to be able to learn from older generations so that mistakes can be prevented from happening again, this is the learning process. However there is a sense of questioning involved when thinking about what our pupils are being taught in schools; are academic subjects important? Should more focus be emphasised on maintaining organisation and communication? These are certainly questions worth thinking about.

Science and thinking

At this current day and age we are still learning and will always be learning. We need to learn about the world, how things work and what we can do to improve our own existence, this is where science comes in; the question: ‘Why do we need science?’

Science is defined as:

‘The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment’.

Now that is a mouthful and quite boring; it is not a true reflection on how science should be taught.

All pupils require a sense of awe and engagement for them to be able to learn, recall and never forget. If there is a subject that allows this, it would be science. The possibilities are endless and there is a sense of holding back within the education system at the moment. It is always great to hear about improving schools; however, more can be done.

It is true that we are improving as a community and a country, but if anyone is teaching or being taught using the simple phrase ‘Anyone, Anyone’,   then well it’s easy to see why some pupils hate classes:

What we should be aiming at is taking an understanding from this teachers philosophy as a science teacher but as well as a man who loves teaching, loves his son and loves life, when he has got other reasons to go in the opposite direction.

If one had to summarise what science and education is and why it is important (this applies for all academic subjects) then Mr Wright is a true inspiration.

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Science and technology, what could be?

Technology and science has seemed to have made heaps and bounds of progress in the last decade. Every day something is being discovered; new technology being engineered that could possibly change our lives. What’s more interesting is the technology and science in our daily lives that we take for granted, for example the personal home computer, where would we be without it?

Before we take a look at some of the technology of the future, Let take a step back in history to just see how far we have come.

In 1971, the Kenbak-1 is considered by the Computer History Museum and the American Computer Museum to be the first ever personal home computer; it was advertised for $750 in Scientific American. The computer was designed by John V. Blankenbaker using standard medium-scale and small-scale integrated circuits; the Kenbak-1 relied on switches for input and lights for output from its 256-byte memory.

In comparison to the computers and technology we have available to us today, it didn’t really do much; however, none the less it was a turning point in history, and an amazing feat.

Now almost 44 years later we have reaped the benefits of science and innovation, to have available in the majority of our households, computers that are able to do things that Blankenbaker could of only had dreamed of back then.

The question now to think of; can you imagine where will be in another 44 years’ time?

But first of all let’s just hope we do not use advances in technology to create machines such as this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djc8FPHs45o

What could be

I have put together a series of websites that you should take a look at; have a look at what could be possible:

Kinect-like technology turns any surface into a touchscreen

Giant solar plane could stay airborne for 5 years, replace some satellites

10 Upcoming Technology That May Change The World

Trillion-frame-per-second video

Researchers create car that can be steered by thought

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Science relating to life and achievement

Question to think of:

Do are brunches blossom when we leave education?

Science lesson have changed a lot in the past 10 years or so, with changing curricula and new advancing ideas in science pupils are always benefiting from the knowledge taken from science lessons. The question that has to be answered is:

Are science lessons preparing pupils for their life ahead? Can the knowledge they learn from their science be brought forward to create generation of scientists with new adventurous ideas.

K., Ross in his book teaching secondary science mentioned “Children learn about heat and temperature, atoms and molecules, fair testing and Bunsen burners, but do not build them into everyday understanding. At best they have a scientific system that is good enough to pass examinations, but after harvesting the crops, the land is bare, the ideas are lost and everyday life is unaffected”.

Some pupils just want to get their result and not think about pursuing science as a career or even putting forward the knowledge they have learnt to everyday life. Why would they when the things taught in science are based upon knowledge from books and not life experience (however this is changing; slowly  Pupils are being taught for exams and not for the “greater picture”. This leads on to the matter of raising achievements, pupils want to do well they want to succeed but they just cannot and some will not relate to things that they think is a waste of time. Science that is directly related to a pupil’s everyday life may encourage performance and maybe helping to raise achievement.

Reference: Keith Ross and co, Teaching secondary science constructing meaning and developing understanding; 2010.

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why do we need science?

I am sure if you are a teacher you have heard it before; or if you are a parent you may have been asked by your children; or some of you may have asked the same question when you were at school.

'Why do I need science? Why do I need maths? When would I need to find x? or would it really matter if I cannot write up a conclusion for my investigation?'



To be perfectly honest I give my pupils another way to look at. It is not about the knowledge or the facts you write in a lesson; it is to do with the skills you develop to learn from someone more experienced than you. We all need to learn, I am still learning myslef; the worst mistake anyone could make is to feel as though there is nothing else more to learn.

Pupils need to listen and learn because it helps develop essential learning skills. Now it is frustrating when you want to teach someone something you are passionate about, like myself with my science lessons; but at the end of the day you cannot make someone love something you are passionate on, we are all different and we all have different interests.

What you can do is ask the pupils what interests them and then relate it to why sitting through a science class can prove to help get the pupil to where their heart is.

Touch the heart first then you have their minds.

So you could say to your pupils or children;

'try your hardest in concentrating in class, not because you need to learn the facts but because the embedded skills that are unseen within the class while you are learning can prove to be more valuable'.

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Motivation is key!

I have found that to have real success at something you have got to have a hard work ethic. There is no easy way to get through something you want to be successful at than by putting hours of hard work into it.

Don't give up, do not look at your mistakes and wish that had not happened, but look back and reflect, ask yourself what can I do better next time to improve? Once you have done this, look forward, implement what you have learned to improve your work ethos and overall you as a person.

I have had bad days where I just feel like I want to move on, change my line of work and try something different; however these are the days where you realise just how strong you are. How you deal with it from this point can make or break you next time you encounter a bad day.

Pain is temporary and it will pass.

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