The student is an intelligent, polite and well-travelled young man with a warm and cultured demeanour. He is German and grew up in Germany and Italy. Although completely fluent in both German and Italian, his English, especially his writing, needs much more practice to achieve the same level of fluency as his other languages. He is socially gregarious and conversational, with a keen sense of humour. He is very pleasant company conversationally. The young man enjoys several sports, especially shooting (guns and archery), skiing, and most water sports. His favourite teacher was experienced, patient and kind, the kind of person whose wisdom comes from experience and observation rather than being simply book-smart. His least favourite teachers are inflexible, do not seem to know their subject, and form unreasonable opinions about people that they are then unable to look past.

He attended the International School of Munich but left, out of choice, shortly before the end of 10th grade. He readily describes an unpleasant school experience that did not interest or motivate him and teachers who did not seem interested in his academic progress. Since leaving school, he has travelled extensively and has been able to dedicate unfettered time to his interests and sports. He is an excellent shot with arrow and bullet and has won many trophies. Now that his friends are beginning to graduate College he feels that there is a gap in his life and he his now highly motivated to complete his High School and College application requirements.

Few of the courses he completed at Munich International School can be carried forward now, but since grades at school were low, it is a mixed blessing. Low scores depress the final GPA, while repeating them at higher grade increases the amount of work to be done.

The student would like to make a successful application to a good College, such as NYU or UCSD, somewhere in a large city or wonderful climate that offers a broad range of subjects from which he can choose. He thinks he might major in business or economics, but these are just distant thoughts at the moment. He understands that to be accepted into a Tier 1 College will mean a lot of hard work, but he is highly motivated and will work extremely hard. There is a huge amount to be done, not only in completing a high school graduation, but also with SAT preparation and College applications. Without compromising on standards, he would like to be able to complete his high school level studies as fast as possible. All in all, he will make a pleasant, productive and driven student for an able educator to work with every day.

The student is enrolled in a fully accredited distance learning high school program (National University Virtual High School, NUVHS) with the full time support of a dedicated private Tutor to help him manage the workload, master the course content, and improve his overall school performance. NUVHS has already audited his existing transcript and indicated what needs to be done to complete the graduation requirements.

The Tutor will need to be highly organized, and able to work both as a teacher and as a mentor-coach, helping navigate course material from NUVHS at a rate that he can manage while structuring the home-school day and the rate of progress through the online materials so that everything is done on time and to the required standard. This will necessarily involve the Tutor taking on many roles: a teacher, explaining how to solve certain problems or discussing the meaning of texts; a commander, ensuring that he gets on with assignments or the required reading by himself; motivator and guide, helping overcome his inhibitions and low self-confidence. This will necessitate a Tutor who is able to maintain a gentle but unrelenting pressure, firm when required, but never abrasive.

The student has concerns about how his command of English detrimentally affects his timed testing. This is entirely understandable and the Tutor should be sensitive to these genuine worries while at the same working hard with him to overcome any impediments to success. In the short term this may mean providing more support than is entirely appropriate; it should last only as long as is needed to teach him the skills to master this important aspect of independent assessment.

Although it is essential that the student complete the work himself, the purpose of a full time support Tutor in this role is to ensure that nothing sent for assessment to the online high school is incomplete or incorrect. This will mean that the Tutor should check all material so that the student can correct it before submission. This opportunity to find and eradicate all gaps in knowledge, and the application of that knowledge, is one of the most beneficial aspects of this approach to education. The student has a huge amount to catch up on. The Tutor will need to work with him to make sure that while everything is thoroughly mastered, the desire to finish as soon as possible does not mean failing to learn things properly. It will not do anyone any good, least of all the student, if he gets to College and is unable to cope with the work there.

Although there is a monumental of work to get through, the Tutor should remember that the student has not done anything like schoolwork for some six years, and when he last did any it was not of a high standard. This means that the Tutor should expect to start quite slowly and build up to the required output volume and standard over time.

It will also be essential in this role for the Tutor to remain in very close dialogue with Tutors International. There are some variables that have been discussed and by no means discarded regarding alternatives to a purely NUVHS solution. More importantly in this role than in many Tutors International assignments will be the need for a continuous, open and thorough dialogue between Tutor, Student and Educational Consultant.

This is a full time job, working one on one with the student for up to eight hours per day, five days a week. Weekends will normally be off, but it could be that two consecutive days off at some other time in the week will fit better with the Client’s plans from time to time. The Tutor’s preparation time and the student’s periods of private study are in addition to these hours. The Tutor should anticipate that there might even be even more intensive periods than those outlined but that such periods will be compensated by relatively lightly periods at other times.

The Tutor is entitled to a minimum of nine weeks paid vacation per annum as per the Terms. These will normally be taken at times convenient to the Client, and will likely follow a similar pattern to standard school vacations. Any untaken vacation that has accrued at the end of the contract term will be compensated by a prorated payment in lieu.

Accommodation is provided in the staff accommodation on the family’s property. The Tutor will be able to leave and return freely, but it will not be acceptable for the Tutor to bring friends onto the grounds of the family home.

The family will provide, or reimburse the Tutor, for all meals that occur during tutoring time, and the Tutor will often be invited to join the family for meals. It is expected that the Tutor will accept these invitations.

There is a study room set aside for the tutoring to be based, but the Tutor should feel free to use all the resources available at the family home as needed. For example, it is more likely that the student will be able to learn and retain aspects of English literature by acting some parts of a play (with his Tutor), or by doing experiments in Physics and Chemistry that suit a domestic environment, than simply reading about them in books.

In Germany the Client will give the Tutor access to a moped for his or her general local use, and there are excellent public transport links nearby. For example, it is a short walk to the nearest tram station and quick journey into the city.

Travel, and all expenses this incurs, will be met by the family on all journeys where tutoring takes place. The Tutor should expect to accompany the student during visits to their Italian home, where the Client will make equivalent personal transport available.

Ideally the Tutor should be a non-smoker and hold a clean driving license. He or she should lead a healthy lifestyle and be in good physical shape.

The student would like to feel comfortable with his Tutor joining him and his friends in more social settings where discussion of his studies or of related or more advanced topics might be the norm. It would therefore be ideal if the Tutor were gregarious and engaging at this level.