The student is a delightful young girl, who is creative, curious and engaging. She is an only child and currently attends a local school where she is thriving in the social environment that formal schooling provides. However, her parents’ international experience and lifestyle means they are aware that she is behind her peers in the best private schools in London or strong international schools would be in several key areas, especially language usage, reading and mathematics. Her numeracy appears sound, but it is difficult to fully assess her overall academic competence as there is a paucity of evidence in the form of written work provided to parents by the school.

The girl’s education is on track to make her tri-lingual. Her academic environment is English, but the school also offers Bahasa Malaysia (a local dialect) and Mandarin. These three languages are vastly different in terms of alphabet and grammar, which could go some way to explaining the student’s apparent reading deficit in English. She is also learning to play the piano, and has high hopes of one day being able to play guitar. The deal is that she masters the piano first – and although only having one hour of lessons a week, she is making good progress and is nearly at the stage where she can play with both hands concurrently.

Despite her parents’ means, the student is not at all a spoiled child. The family and staff undoubtedly have great affection for her, but show this through spending time with her and on helping her with projects, as opposed to buying her gifts. Indeed, her toys are relatively basic, items are recycled and there is plenty of room to expand her library and art supplies. She is a predominantly visual learner – she need only watch a demonstration once before she is able to repeat the skill or technique it showcases and this offers able tutors significant scope for making huge academic strides in a relatively short amount of time at this age group.

This role calls for a broadly capable, calm and well-qualified primary educator who has experience working with children in the age group 6-10 (or even beyond), and is comfortable working at the standards expected by the best private schools. Due to subtle local politics, the Tutor must work independently of the student’s current school, building on work she has covered in class and slowly bringing her up to a standard that is comparable to her peers in London or at the most well respected international schools. Initially the Tutor must focus on the student’s reading skills, but also incorporate a range of fun and interesting activities that keep her entertained while also having a significant educational edge. In addition to exploring age-appropriate literature, the Tutor should also consider expanding the resources at home to include construction kits and science equipment alongside more advanced art supplies to enable activities such as silk painting, collage or clay work.

The student’s parents are keen for their daughter to maintain her Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin skills through school, but would like the Tutor to introduce her to another European language as well. Her mother is keen on French (and would also like to learn this with the Tutor when time permits) or possibly Spanish. It has also been suggested that the discipline and structure of Latin would be advantageous option for her, giving her strong foundations in any Romance language she may choose to learn in the future of for competitive entrance to a good British school in the future. It would also be advantageous if the Tutor could build on her piano tuition, or perhaps play music with her on some other instrument.

It is important that the Tutor has a wide variety of extracurricular interests that her or she can share with the family as whole. This could be in areas as diverse as developing language skills, or perhaps helping them learn European cooking techniques. This element of the tuition should extend to include the student’s mother as well as the student, which means the Tutor must be equally at home teaching adults as with children.

The Tutor must be highly organised and an excellent record keeper. Although this role is initially one of after support, it is possible that at some point in the future the student’s parents may opt for her to be completely home schooled. Should this occur, the documentation kept by the Tutor at this stage will be an invaluable tool when preparing a full curriculum, or when preparing to hand over to another Tutor at a later date.

As with all home schooling roles, whether they are full time or support, there is ample opportunity for taking learning out of the classroom. As such, the Tutor is expected to incorporate as much of the surroundings as possible into the lessons of the day, taking advantage of the location, wherever this may be, to bring alive a history, geology or mathematics lesson as appropriate. She or he should be able to inspire the student enthusiastically with the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. The Tutor should always have something ‘up their sleeve’ to keep her positively engaged.

The successful candidate will be able to offer more than the minimum requirements of this position, must have been raised in a socially appropriate background, and speak English with Received Pronunciation as a mother tongue. He or she will not only be an excellent educator, but also a good role model: educated and polished, with excellent manners and personal values. The Tutor will also be partly responsible for the student’s character education, teaching manners alongside virtues such as gratitude, community mindedness, resilience and respect for others. The Tutor is expected to help the student develop the social skills that are necessary to her societal standing – she must be confident, articulate and polished when meeting dignitaries, but not pushy or precocious. Such advice is also welcomed by the student’s mother, who sometimes feels uncomfortable in some settings.

The Tutor must be fit and healthy, a non-smoker. The role will suit a Tutor who is happy to live in a small urban environment, and is comfortable working in a culture that is not their own. The family is very private, and the Tutor must maintain complete confidentiality both during and after their appointment.

The Tutor is expected to work with the student on school nights between the hours of 3.30pm and 8pm. At weekends, it is likely that their hours will be extended, and the Tutor should be prepared to work up to 40 hours a week with preparation time in addition.

The Tutor is entitled to two consecutive days off per week, but should not expect these to occur at weekends or necessarily to be regular in their timing. As far as possible the Client will try to give the Tutor at least a week’s notice of when their ‘weekend’ break will be, but the Tutor will need to understand this is not always possible. Untaken weekend days that have accrued will also be compensated by a pro-rated payment in lieu.

The Tutor will be entitled to a minimum of 9 weeks paid vacation per annum at times convenient to the Client. It is likely that the Tutor will follow the Malaysian school holiday pattern, whereby the main holiday takes place from late November to early January, and the rest of the school year is divided into semesters.

The Client will provide a furnished apartment for the sole use of the Tutor near the family home. The Client will pay for all bills on this accommodation, except for the Tutor’s personal phone bills. While the teaching position is a role for just one Tutor, their accommodation could be suitable for a couple with one or two small children.

The Tutor will be provided with a car for his or her personal use.

A room in the family home has been set aside as the schoolroom for the sole use of the student and her Tutor.

This role is based in a small, but thriving, city in Sarawak on the island of Borneo. The climate there is very different to that of Europe, and the Tutor must be aware of the physical challenges associated with living in a tropical region.

The Tutor should be aware that this role is about the attitude and professionalism of the Tutor as much as their academic capabilities. It would be easy to take advantage of the family’s generous nature and it is essential that the Tutor not let this happen to them: they must be the consummate professional in all situations, remembering to be grateful for anything given beyond this Specification, and certainly never to feel entitled or to take such generosity for granted. This will help to reinforce the character education of the student and help ensure the Tutor stays grounded in her or his attitudes and actions.

The family have a number of dogs, both large and small. The Tutor must be comfortable working in an environment in which they are likely to come into contact with both the pets and the guard dogs.