The student is the younger of two siblings. She currently attends a school in Hong Kong and has settled into academic life easily. She is bright and engaging and polite, and can be quite charming when it suits her. She can be demanding, and really likes to challenge her teachers. Her Tutor therefore must be highly knowledgeable, able to answer her many questions patiently with ease, while remaining lively and fun, and maintaining principles of discipline. If her Tutor is unable to demonstrate these qualities while keeping firm boundaries, she will easily take advantage of the situation.

The student seems to be doing well in school, and has a fondness for fun and interesting teachers who can make lessons come alive. As is to be expected, she does not like teachers who are unfair, who pick on students with no reason, and who don’t explain themselves clearly. She does not like to feel foolish.

With her 10-year-old brother, she lives with her parents and grandparents. Not surprisingly, the family members treat her a little differently along generational lines. She and her brother have had additional tutoring support in the past, and the tutors have also found generational differences regarding their own boundaries and standards of expected behaviour. One result of this inconsistency is that the children have learned the best way to behave around each set of adults, so it will be important for the Tutor to instil consistency at this level.

On the whole though, the student is a motivated child who is interested in the world around her. She has the capacity to excel in an academic environment as long as new material is presented in an appealing and engaging way. She is confident and quick, and to the right Tutor will be a delight to teach. She really enjoys piano, ballet, art and equestrian sports, as well as outdoor activities in general. The ideal Tutor will share some or all of these interests.

This role calls for a broadly able, calm and well-qualified educator who has experience working in top level private schools and is up-to-date on teaching pedagogies and values. The Tutor must be able to deliver the full range of primary subjects, and should have an exceptional track record in preparing students for the 11+ and 13+ exams. The Tutor will need to be comfortable working at the standards expected by the best London private schools, and have proven experience in the British private school curricula.

The Tutor should expect to spend their afternoons helping the student to go over any homework, ensuring it is completed to the highest standards and that the lessons from the day have been fully understood. Given that even part time home-tutoring allows far greater freedom in terms of subjects covered, once the school work is competed, there is certainly room to explore other subjects at an appropriate level. The Tutor should aim to start slowly with the student, learning what motivates and entertains her before introducing increasingly targeted tasks. Where possible, the Tutor should use local resources as the basis of their lessons – perhaps a visit to an art exhibition could form the basis of work for that week, or maybe a trip to the local market or festival.

It is essential that the Tutor be highly organised with has excellent record-keeping skills. He or she must be able to build good working relationships with both the children, their parents and representatives, other Tutors, and with other members of the family’s staff. The student is the clear focus of this assignment, but there may be some overlap with the other two Tutors (working with her brother) in terms of helping to provide a balanced and varied education for both children.

The Tutor 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 children’s character education, teaching manners alongside virtues such as gratitude, community mindedness, resilience and respect for others. Although not mandatory, it would be a bonus to find Tutors whose personal interests encompass art or sports that can be shared and enjoyed by the whole family to extend the role beyond just academics.

The ideal candidate will have a wide range of interests, and must be able to inspire a love of learning in the children. This role is best suited to someone who has a strong spirit of adventure and is not easily fazed by new cultures. They should be happy to take advantage of their new location, embracing the opportunities that are presented to them perhaps by immersing themselves by learning the local language or a local instrument. They should be as excited to explore the region and its history as much as they are enthused by their role.

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 clear English without any discernible regional dialect as a mother tongue. The Tutor will need to be organised, efficient and have an excellent eye for detail. The Tutor must be a qualified teacher, with at least three years’ appropriate schools experience. It would be advantageous if he or she has prior experience teaching the Asian market in any context. EFL or international experience would also useful.

The Tutor is expected to work with both for an average of up to 40 hours a week, providing after school support for the children, with preparation completed in the Tutor’s own time during the day. The likely schedule will be 8-12 hours on Saturday/Sunday and three weekdays at 6 hours per day, including taking children to school and working after school.

The Tutor is entitled to two consecutive days off per week. These will be split evenly between either a Sunday/Monday or to consecutive weekdays (e.g. Monday/Tuesday).

Of course, the Tutor should expect to be flexible in this regard and the Client will try to give the Tutor at least a week’s notice of any variation to this. In turn, the Tutor will need to understand this notice will not always possible.

The Tutor will be entitled to a minimum of 45 working days paid vacation in addition to statutory holidays. The 45 days off should be taken at times convenient to the Client. Untaken ‘weekends’, paid vacation, or public holiday that have accrued will also be compensated by a pro-rated payment in lieu at the end of the contract, or by extra annual leave.

The Client will provide accommodation suitable for an individual Tutor (this role is not suited to tutoring couples or families) and will cover all bills on this accommodation, except for the Tutor’s personal phone bills. The Client will cover all travel expenses associated with this role, as well as meals and food during any periods of travel. During periods in Hong Kong, the Tutor is responsible for organising his or her own meals, for which they will be given a stipend of 500 HKD per day from the Client.

The Tutor should not expect to have their own car while in Hong Kong as the public transport is very efficient. However, they will have access to a car when necessary.

The Tutor must be fit and healthy, a non-smoker.

The Tutor must ensure that he or she has the requisite travel and health insurance, has received the required vaccinations, and has the necessary visas.