There are two boys, aged 7 and 5. Both boys are inquisitive, bright, engaging, and immensely curious. They have plenty of energy. Even though they are young, they are warm-hearted, generous of spirit, enquiring, and open-minded. The younger one is more cooperative and enjoys learning more than his older brother, who prefers to explore freely and change tasks more often. Due to excellent parenting strategies, the children already appreciate the importance of hard work and the cumulative value of the rewards of such hard work. Both boys love Lego, but whereas the older child prefers to follow the steps in the instructions and get his model finished, his brother takes a more creative approach. The oldest boy has recently been introduced to FischerTechnik and both love their iPads. The boys both have a lot of games that they have earned by completing hundreds of IXL math problems. The boys’ handwriting is coming along, but they could certainly do with much more practice, the older boy especially.

The children’s first language is English and they are currently enrolled at the American School in Dubai. While ASD is unarguably one of the best schools in the region it is, by the nature of its location and catchment area, unable to offer the kind of world-class education that is sought. Even the best schools with their huge resources are, by their nature, forcibly limited as regards the individual learner by their need to ensure that whole classes reach certain benchmarks at the same time and across a fairly rigid range of subjects. Comparatively, the family travel and live internationally and multiculturally, and they want an inspirational education for their children within this global and integrated framework, free from classroom walls and ceilings, and formulaic curricula.

The children are growing up in a privileged environment but are certainly not spoiled. They are already aware of the need for and value of hard work, and it is important that these characteristics continue to be fostered by the Tutors. The family values are centred on a Christian moral code and the children are continually reminded of their responsibility to be compassionate and kind to others for the benefit of all.

The boys’ parents have already established firm boundaries in terms of behaviour and expectations. It is essential that the tutoring reinforces these principles and adapts them to fit the discipline of home schooling in a reasonable, respectful, and light manner. In general, the environment should be one of mutual respect and understanding. The appointed candidates will need to listen to and understand the children, to discover how they both tick and to find the best way to engage, teach, and inspire.

The Tutors’ roles are multifaceted and will require broad-minded and erudite practitioners. At the core is the development of a global, multicultural, value-driven and balanced curriculum that will need to be thoughtfully resourced, carefully managed, accurately documented, and thoroughly assessed and reported. The Tutors will be encouraged to use a wide variety of resources, from ready-made materials such as Laurel Springs or K12, and, when the children can handle it, middle or high school materials. The children certainly do not need to remain at their grade level by age and indeed one of the main benefits of home schooling is the freedom to roam intellectually up to the limit of ability. The Tutors should not be constrained by any school based notions and will be expected to look beyond US materials to such international curricula as the British National Curriculum, or beyond standardised curricula anywhere. They should also create their own courses of study that provide bespoke materials tuned to the boys’ individual strengths.

That is not to say that the children should only be given work they can do easily. Struggle, and the sense of pride that comes from completing something challenging, are important lessons. The children need to learn that not everything is going to be handed to them on a plate, tailored to their preferences; they need to learn that life can be hard and they sometimes need to allow for unexpected or unwanted eventualities. They also need to learn that life is not fair for everyone, that although they are being prepared for a leading role on the world stage they also need “the common touch”. This real world experience should be authentic, not superficial. For example the children might make a shirt from scratch starting with the hard labour of picking cotton or shearing sheep, making this into yarn, dyeing, weaving, cutting and sewing together the pieces, and then wearing and taking care of their shirt. Such a process will show them the value of local traditions and skills, and help them appreciate their own possessions. Immersion in the foundations of our civilisation is part of the rich tapestry of education that this role embraces.

As well as the core subjects of any good curriculum, delivered within the family’s value framework of hard work and reward, compassion and respect, privilege and humility, the Tutors will need to ensure that the children are given instruction in arts, languages, and sports. It is therefore essential that one or, better still, both Tutors can read and appreciate a wide variety of music and be accomplished with at least one musical instrument. In terms of languages, between the two Tutors there must be linguistic and cultural fluency in Spanish. In sports, it is essential that the Tutors can teach swimming and it would be ideal if the Tutors ski.

The Tutors will share all aspects of the tutoring role, neither one working predominantly with either child. On occasion all four might work together, such as when studying or performing a play or playing music. On other occasions each Tutor will work one-on-one with one of the children. Tutoring need not be confined to the classroom, although periods of formal study and of self-study are essential, but should take in local sites of interest, museums, art galleries, archaeological digs, relevant performances etc.

The Tutors, in cooperation with the boys’ parents, will need to ensure that the boys maintain social opportunities wherever possible. Obviously the majority of tutoring time will not include peer interaction, but there should still be occasional opportunities to invite other children into lessons specially planned for such group work. In the main though, the majority of social opportunity will come through extra-curricular activities, such as sports, especially skiing and swimming, drama, or music.

The Tutors will work closely with the parents to share information and ideas and implement them into the teaching as needed. Regular reports will also be provided to the parents, summarising the material covered the previous week, the plans for the following week, and any concerns or issues that have arisen.

The Tutors should both be the kind of people who are calm and endlessly patient, full of energy with a lust for life. They will need to have a positive mindset, good humour, be compassionate, down to earth, and kind-hearted. Flexibility is a must to accommodate the family’s fluid lifestyle and frequent changes of location.

It is not envisaged that this time will all be indoors in formal study. In addition to visits to museums and art galleries, the Tutors should also include periods of recreational learning, perhaps through games devised to reinforce or prepare for a recent subject of study, or to encourage and develop sports and other skills.

It has not yet been discussed how the week will be structured. Whatever is decided, it will be essential for the Tutors, in association with the parents, to develop a timetable. This will need to be firm, but yet able to accommodate the flexibility that comes with a home-school environment that involves frequent travel.

Meals that occur during the tutoring hours form part of the work for the Tutors and offer further educational value in terms of understanding nutrition, hygiene, food preparation, table manners and cleaning up afterwards.

The Tutors will have a minimum of nine weeks (45 working days) paid vacation per annum. The dates for this will be at times convenient to the Client. The Tutors should not expect to be off at the same time.

The family will arrange all travel for the Tutors and cover all their reasonable daily expenses.

When they are with the children, the Tutors should be nurturing and protective by nature. The Tutors will need to complete a recognised first aid and water life-saving qualification.

In order to help with travel, it would be advantageous if the Tutors either hold, or are entitled to hold, dual passports for the US and any EU country. In any event, the candidates must not have any restrictions that prevent entry to any of the four countries cited in this Specification.

The position will suit well-educated and polite Tutors who are naturally curious, resourceful and self-sufficient. They must both be non-smokers who lead a healthy lifestyle, and who understand the importance of proper decorum in a wide variety of social circumstances. They should be well travelled with a value-based worldview. The Tutors should be forward thinkers, proactive, have a strong sense of professionalism and a general desire to please.

The Tutors must uphold high standards of discretion at all times, be private people in general, respectful of privacy and boundaries.

Following successful preliminary interviews with Tutors International, the Tutor will meet with the Client’s Personal Assistant before meeting the family. In addition to the usual confidentiality clauses in the Terms and Conditions, candidates will also be required to sign the Client’s own Confidentiality Undertaking. A copy of this Undertaking without named parties will be provided to the candidate at the initial meeting with Tutors International and will need to be signed at the meeting with the family’s Assistant.