The family has two girls.  In September 2010 the elder will be 9 and going into grade 4, and the younger will be 7 and going into grade 2. The girls are bright and energetic.  They are gregarious and amiable and relate well to adults.  They are polite and willing.  They were home educated last year and are looking forward to continuing the process with a new Tutor. 

The older girl has a clear sense of the kind of teachers she likes and is clear that her favourite subjects are linked in part to these teachers.  She is clearly a capable student.  Due to a relatively late start to learn to read and write, she found these subjects the hardest when she attended school in Toronto before being homeschooled.  Through good tutoring since September 2009, these skills have developed tremendously.  Understandably, this initial deficit affected the quality of the friendships she formed with her peers at school, and homeschooling does not offer the same opportunities as the classroom for developing these. She will need continued guidance on building and sustaining social relationships with young people.  She likes teachers who are firm but fair and who have a sense of humour.

Her sister is too young at the moment to have a clear sense of favourite lessons or the teachers she likes.  She has a lovely demeanour, is attentive and inquisitive. She will be a delight to teach.  She will enjoy working with any able educator who keeps learning fun and relevant.

Until September 2009 the children were enrolled in private schools in Canada (Ontario) and Costa Rica, where they progressed from JK and SK to regular grade school.  Since then they have been home-schooled by a British Tutor.  The schools did not provide the quality of education that the girls’ parents want for their children; a carefully selected private teacher offers a much better alternative. In addition to the general disappointment with the educational provision on offer from the schools, the family wish to travel more.  The appointment of a well-qualified and experienced educator to travel with the family is therefore the best way to accommodate the family’s lifestyle.

Although the Client wants a well-qualified and experienced teacher to teach the girls, the focus of this assignment is not only to garner knowledge in order to reach a specific educational goal, but also to instill the love of learning in the girls so that they can carry this forward and apply it to all aspects of their lives.

The family would like the Tutor to follow the British curriculum, broadly speaking. However, the Tutor should not be guided by or confined to any one curriculum nor should he or she adhere to any prescribed grade level by age.  The Tutor should develop an integrated, subject-based curriculum, which combines languages, and which includes expression in all forms of media including art and music.  As well as the general subjects of Maths, Science, English, Art, Music, Geography and History the Tutor should be keen to explore Law, Social Studies and Anthropology with the girls.  In music the Tutor is not required to play a musical instrument, but it would certainly be an advantage. There is a piano in each of the Costa Rica and Toronto homes, and one of the girls shows an interest in it. In any event the Tutor should develop an aesthetic appreciation of music, encompassing theory and the pleasure it can bring. 

The girls are also learning French, Spanish and Mandarin The Tutor will therefore need to be fluent in one of the three languages in addition to English to be able to communicate the subjects in English and another language. Local tutors will be hired to tutor the other languages.

It is expected that the Tutor will take full advantage of local and domestic resources in each location when designing the program of study and that proportionally little of the teaching time will be classroom based.

Unusually perhaps for such a contemporary approach to schooling, there are some more traditional skills that the Client considers essential.  For example, the girls must know their multiplication tables, squares and roots, fractions, percentage and decimal equivalence as facts that they have learned, drilled by rote if necessary, so that mental maths are strong and sure.  Spelling should also be drilled if need be. And the girls will need to develop skills of hypothesising and conceptualising, and of solving problems by thought experiments. 

It is possible that the parents will be involved in the delivery and design of parts of the curriculum.  For example, the girls’ mother will look after the PE component and the girls’ father would like to be involved with the teaching of History.  The Tutor will be responsible for planning a creative program of study that involves both parents in their daughters’ learning.

Given the amount of time that the girls will be receiving individual tutoring each day, there will rarely be the need to set homework.  Homework should only be given if a particular skill needs to be practiced, or some background reading needed.  On no occasion should it be necessary to give homework that includes unnecessary repetition or busy work.  Equally, there should be no need to give the children tests unless preparation is being made for formal public exams.  Testing of knowledge and understanding should be integrated into the teaching style and record kept of mastery of a topic in the portfolios being developed for each student.

The Client will make arrangements for a suitable space to be designated as the schoolroom in each location.  It could be that the apartment provided for the Tutor’s accommodation would have a room to be used solely for this purpose.  The Tutor will be responsible for selecting appropriate resources as required for the children’s learning, agreeing a budget with the Client for the costs, and for ordering and maintaining such resources, as well as being responsible for moving these resources between locations as required.

There is also an important pastoral component to this role.  The Tutor is responsible for helping the parents identify suitable social opportunities for the girls, perhaps through participation in sports or music, and to help the girls maintain friendships as the family move frequently from place to place.

The ideal applicant will be a single woman or man, or perhaps a teaching couple.  Whether a couple or not, the lead Tutor should be a seasoned teacher with around 10 years teaching experience.  He or she will need to have the professional qualifications and experience to be able to cover the whole curriculum at the appropriate grade levels, yet be young and healthy enough to lead a physically active lifestyle throughout the appointment. She or he will enjoy many interests, such as reading and popular culture, international current affairs, and many sports, art and music. The Tutor should be well read, erudite and technologically competent, while at the same time able to relate well to young people.  She or he will need to have a sense of humour, be easygoing yet firm.

Initially the teaching will generally follow the structure of normal school year.  This plan may be reviewed at a later stage.

The assignment will be based mainly in Toronto and Costa Rica.

Although no specific details are known at this time, the Client may ask the Tutor to accompany them during the inter-term breaks. Should this be the case, whether or not this is counted as part of the Tutor’s vacation or part of their contractual work period will need to be agreed on a case-by-case basis.

The Client will be responsible for the Tutor’s full expenses arising from any such travel.

The Client will provide furnished accommodation with Internet in all locations.

The Tutor will be responsible for any meals that do not occur during tutoring time.

The Client will also provide the Tutor with a car for her or his own personal use in each location.

The Client will arrange a visa for the Tutor in each country as required.  For Canada, the visa will not permit an accompanying partner to work unless he or she can secure his or her own visa independently.

The Tutor must be a non-smoker.