Oxford Maths Graduate with a genius for making Primary and Secondary Maths easy and fun for all ages. 10 years tutoring ages 6 to 16. Online teaching and homework support at a time that suits you.

Find out more about Sushma

• 1) When did you develop an interest in your chosen field and in private tutoring?

  1. My love of Maths began around age 3, when I taught myself to count on a tape measure. I'd always loved patterns and still remember the excitement of understanding that numbers follow so many amazing patterns. My favourite part of tutoring is seeing that same excitement of dawning understanding on my students faces every day. This too developed at an early age, when I started school and realising that most people didn't see maths the way I did, and began explaining and sharing this with them. As their love and confidence with Maths developed, I continued informally tutoring my classmates, friends and family members for decades, eventually becoming a professional tutor!

• 2) Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students (and possibly those you like a little less).

  2. Maths is an overall name for a range of ways that the brain likes to reason and solve problems in the real world, so I love to bring as much creativity and play from the real world into every topic. My favourite is algebra as it is such a powerful and exciting toolkit for students once they have been given a strong clear grounding in how (and why) to use it. I think my least favourite teaching assignment would be anything that needs to be taught repetitively and on autopilot. As this is never the case in 1 to 1 tutoring, where the variety of subjects to master, and student levels of understanding vary from topic to topic, I love every part of tutoring Maths.

• 3) Did you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you?

  3. I was lucky enough to have quite a few role models, who all shared a deep enthusiasm for their subject, but who each taught me something different about good teaching. I saw efficient, high quality resource organisation in one, empathy and kindness in another, creativity in a third. My biggest role model was probably my Primary school teacher called Mr Carter. He was the first one to help me appreciate what a creative, exploratory adventure a teaching and learning experience can be.

• 4) What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

  4. I think a good tutor needs to have a variety of qualities, including empathy, creativity, patience, humour, organisation, intelligence, passion for the subject and a deep commitment to the student's success.

• 5) Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  5. I had a student a few years ago who came across as very confident, lively and articulate, and was doing well in all her GCSE subjects except Maths. Her parents had tried tutoring for her before, but she was increasingly being considered 'unteachable' when it came to Maths. She had become so adept at deflecting and masking her lack of understanding in most foundational areas that it took a few sessions, gently exploring with compassion and patience, to discover how wide and deep her knowledge gaps in Maths actually were. Only by creating a super-safe space in which ALL levels of skill and knowledge were welcome, were we able to find her level of actual competency and gradually work our way up from there, using specially tailored resources and approaches that worked well specifically for her. It was a joy to finally see her relax, engage, learn, and reach the success of which she had been capable all along. This is the unique super-power of 1 to 1 tutoring.

• 6) What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or still facing in your subject?

  6. One difficulty I faced with my subject was being advanced for my age in my abilities, and not knowing how to work with that. Nowadays, I work with students of all abilities, but as a result of my own experience, I have an appreciation that gifted mathematicians need just as much nurturing as those who find the subject challenging.

• 7) Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different?

  7. I have three particular and distinct passions :-) The first is unlocking the genius that is in every mind, and seeing how that unleashes holistic confidence across the whole curriculum and beyond. The second is healing of any bruising caused by earlier negative maths experiences which many students carry and finally helping students achieve life-changing milestones through their maths achievements such as attaining the qualification needed for getting into the schools and courses of their dreams.

• 8) What makes you a Superprof (besides answering these interview questions :-P) ?

  8. I would say that my decades of experience and successful track record, coupled with a passion for creative education which brings a fresh vibrancy to every lesson and to each step forward in the journey of my student's success is what makes me a Superprof :-)