The Educator
Teaching is about much more than giving people answers.
I have always believed in the transformative power of education: its ability to build confidence, widen opportunity and help people see possibilities they had not seen before.
“Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach.” — Aristotle
My parents thought I would become a teacher long before I did.
From a young age, my parents were convinced I was destined to become a teacher. I am glad to say they were right.
Teaching first appealed to me through the influence of the exceptional teachers I was fortunate to learn from. Later, I discovered the same sense of fulfilment in helping someone else understand an idea that had once seemed difficult or inaccessible.
My own teaching journey began at 18, when I worked as an assistant and supply teacher at a private school. Since then, teaching has been one of the few constants running through almost every stage of my career.
Learning to teach
Teaching itself became something I wanted to understand.
While completing my undergraduate studies, I also earned my Qualified Teacher Status. That gave me the opportunity to explore different approaches to teaching and to think more carefully about why one explanation works for one student and fails for another.
I became particularly interested in using computer simulations to teach physics and in strategies for supporting students with dyscalculia and other learning differences.
That interest stayed with me throughout my postgraduate studies and later into my professional career.
The teacher
Good teaching begins with knowledge. It does not end there.
Teaching rewards people who bring genuine passion, empathy, patience and enthusiasm to the work. Without those qualities, it can quickly become transactional — a process of delivering material rather than helping a student grow.
I believe strongly in pedagogical theory. A sound theoretical foundation helps teachers adapt their approach to different students, recognise barriers to learning and make better decisions in the classroom.
But theory alone is not enough. Teaching cannot be reduced to a checklist or routine. A good teacher also needs intuition, creativity and the willingness to try a different explanation when the first one does not work.
Phi Tuition
Eventually, I wanted to build the kind of teaching environment I believed in.
That conviction led me to found my own teaching and tutoring company, Phi Tuition.
It has been both commercially successful and personally fulfilling, giving me the opportunity to put my ideas about teaching into practice and to work closely with students and families over many years.
At its core is a simple belief: excellent teaching requires both a rigorous understanding of how people learn and the human qualities needed to respond to the individual in front of you.
The purpose of education
Education should prepare people to move the world forward.
Education is not simply about transferring knowledge from one generation to the next.
It should equip young people with the skills and confidence to question what they are told, develop new ideas, create new technologies and extend our understanding of the world.
For me, the best teaching does not produce students who simply remember more. It helps produce people who can think for themselves.
Three things repeatedly shape a student’s chance to thrive.
Quality teaching
Subject knowledge, sound pedagogy and the ability to adapt teaching to the student in front of you.
Parental involvement
Consistent support, communication and an environment in which learning is taken seriously.
Leadership
The expectations, structures and culture that allow good teaching and student ambition to flourish.
A school tells students what it believes is possible for them.
Leadership, in particular, sets the tone for a school’s ethos and ambition. It creates expectations, supports good teaching practice and establishes the structures within which teachers and students work.
Working in London gave me the opportunity to teach students from a remarkably wide range of cultural, linguistic and socioeconomic backgrounds. That diversity brings challenges, but it also makes clear why consistent structures and high expectations matter.
I believe one of the central responsibilities of educational leadership is to create a strong enough foundation for every student to flourish, regardless of the circumstances from which they begin.
The work of an educator does not begin and end with the school day.
It is a commitment to show up consistently — with clarity, purpose and care — and to keep asking what a student needs in order to move forward.
When that commitment is genuine, education can be transformative. I have seen it change confidence, ambition and, sometimes, the entire direction of a young person’s life.
Continue to the entrepreneur →