The family has two boys, the elder age 12 and going into Y8, and the younger age 6, going into Y2. They come from a multilingual family that has homes in England, Germany, and Italy. Following a period in London where the elder was enrolled in a British school, the family have been in Germany where their children attend the International School of Frankfurt (ISF). The next academic year will be spent at their home in Italy, where the younger will be enrolled in a local Italian school and the elder will be home educated. The year after, the family plan to enroll both boys in a British school in Rome.

The elder was born in England and speaks several languages. Although Italian predominates at home, his first language is English. He can also speak German, and started learning Spanish this year. He is a keen reader, preferring fiction to non-fiction, and can sometimes be lost in his books for hours at a time. This love of books offers a creative educator a good opportunity to expand his reading materials into more mature literature and to find ways to improve language skills. For example, Manga cartoons have proved a useful stepping-stone into reading German. He also likes computer games, including his Wii and Xbox consoles, and strikes a good balance between the time spent on these and on his other pursuits. He also enjoys watching DVDs with his parents (current favourites are Friends and 24). He enjoys playing football and tennis, but is not really all that interested in taking part in sports, one of the many aspects of life in Italy in which it is hoped the Tutor will influence him.

He is happy child, upbeat and positive. He is polite, attentive, and obviously intelligent and capable. His teachers, parents, and indeed he himself know that he puts in little effort at school but is doing just fine. Obviously the time will come when he will need to adopt a more serious attitude to his studies, but for now this is of no concern to him or to his parents. He prefers to stay up late in the evening and rise early during the week, catching up on rest at the weekend. Although not socially adventurous, he has a small group of loyal friends in several countries with whom he maintains close contact through a range of electronic media, and has several friends that live near their Tuscan home.

The younger boy could not be more different from his older brother. He is usually the first to bed at night and the first to rise in the morning. He is highly active and at his happiest when involved in some form of physical activity, especially cycling or running. He also likes computer games and watching DVDs and is currently into Power Rangers. He does well at school, and although still rather shy, he is popular and has many friends. Perhaps because of the multilingual domestic environment, he was slow to start speaking, but this reticence appears to have vanished now and he has recently started to read at night.

The Tutor will have two main areas of responsibility. By far the most important aspect of the position is to home educate the older child across the full range of Y8 subjects so that he can be smoothly integrated into the upper ability ranges of Y9 in a new school from September 2010. Although he has spent some time in a British school in London, the ISF follows the SABIS curriculum, which places a greater emphasis on intensive testing and is more like the US curriculum. It is not known, therefore, how complete the Y7 course that he will have finished by then will have been and the identification and completion of any missed areas will therefore be an important early requirement.

Personal tutoring is highly productive relative to a classroom environment, and so it should not be a problem to catch up. However, it is equally important that he not be advanced ahead of where his peer group will be at the start of Y9. These educational benchmarks offer a creative and adaptable educator an opportunity to expand the curriculum to encompass a broader range of experiences and applications of learned material. For example, it introduces possibilities to understand subjects in multiple languages, or to present material in a variety of media. It also means that opportunities will be available to use the range of resources immediately at hand, such as the physical environment of hills, beaches, lagoons, and the ocean. The ready access to cities such as Rome, Pisa, and Sienna should be exploited where possible.

The ideal Tutor will therefore need to be multilingual, especially in English and German. Italian would be an advantage, since that is the main language spoken at home and the position is in Italy. Spanish would also be useful, as would Latin, but the family have made it clear that the firm focus of the assignment is to ensure that the elder boy receives a rich and full year of school and consideration will be given to applications from candidates whose language skills vary from this ideal. His favourite subjects are History and Geography; Maths is perhaps his weakest. His father has asked to be involved in teaching his son Maths and the Tutor will be expected to work with Dad in this regard. Science will also need to be covered properly, and it is anticipated that whatever experiments cannot be improvised locally or through Internet resources will need to be arranged in another way, perhaps through a London school; the family visit their London home often. His mother is a successful ceramic artist and has a studio at home. She is looking forward to helping with the art curriculum.

It is not envisaged that he will be set homework unless there is some specific skill that he needs to practice or some literature that requires some preparation. In any event, busy work or needless repetition should be avoided.

Although relatively less important, the Tutor will also work with the younger son for about an hour and a half in the early evenings. The focus of this work will be to ensure that his English and German language skills do not regress while in Italy.

It is expected that the Tutor will generally work with the elder son from 8am-12pm, breaking during the morning as needed to maintain energy and motivation. The younger boy will be at school during this time and returns from school in the early afternoon 3 days a week, with later finishes 2 days a week. The afternoons will be free for the Tutor to work on preparation or to enjoy her or his own recreational pursuits. The Tutor will then work on languages with the younger son from 5pm-6.30pm.

Although this expected routine will likely be changed by agreement with the family to accommodate more extended trips or short periods of travel, an average week will be about 35 hours, Monday to Friday.

There will be a minimum of nine weeks paid vacation per annum at times convenient to the Client, fitting around the Italian school term structure.

Although no specific details are known at this time, travel arrangements will not be undertaken as a time to rest, but rather as a time to explore, and the family might ask the Tutor to accompany them. Should this be the case, whether or not this is counted as part of the annual vacation allowance or part of the contractual work period will need to be agreed in advance on a case-by-case basis. The Client will be responsible for the full expenses of the Tutor arising from any such travel.

The Client will provide full board and lodging within their home(s). This will be a private bedroom, with a bathroom shared by other guests of the Client who might be staying. The Tutor is invited to the use of the public spaces, such as the kitchen, library and TV rooms, as well as their garden. Wireless Internet is available throughout the house.

The Client will also provide the Tutor with a car for her or his own personal use. In Italy, the Tutor will also be given the use of mountain bikes, canoes and other sports equipment the family have available.

The ideal applicant will be a single woman or man. She or he will need to have the professional qualifications and experience to be able to cover the entire Y8 curriculum, 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. 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, and be easygoing yet firm. A non-smoker is preferred.

The family employ two permanent household staff. The Tutor should be aware that these employees work for the Client and not for the Tutor.

The family have two German Shepherds. They are not aggressive, and do not live in the house.

This position is initially for one year, and may be extended by a further few months. The annual fees to the Tutor will be �48,000 GBP.