A fresh start after one career

After one fulfilling career working with medical professionals, Carole is relishing her time supporting young people in the classroom.

Although it may sound cliché, those lightbulb moments, and knowing you are making a difference, makes this [tutoring] one of the most satisfying and rewarding roles I’ve ever done.

Carole McMahon, tutor

3 .5

years with Tutor Trust
420

Hours of high quality tutoring

After a fulfilling career in working with a company that supports medical professionals, Carole McMahon embarked on a completely new path, retraining as a primary school teacher.

Carole's passion for supporting young people led her to spend 10 years in various school settings before she left to work in Early Years as a Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO). but, despite enjoying her role and being able to give targeted support to young people, the classroom was calling her back! She says:

I missed hands on teaching and the focus of giving targeted support to pupils who need it most, so when I heard about Tutor Trust it was an ideal opportunity. I also welcomed the flexibility and choice of hours and variety of assignments.”

Carole McMahon, tutor

The tutor role ticked a lot of boxes for Carole, as she was able to continue to use her teaching skills:

It was the ideal opportunity to continue my teaching, working for a charitable organisation and helping pupils overcome any challenges to learning they may face, which I have always found very rewarding.”

Carole

Since starting her role with us in Autumn 2020, Carole has delivered almost 420 hours of high-quality tuition. She has worked across both primary and secondary school settings, as well as with our more specialised Tutoring Plus service, which also offers one-to-one tutoring.

Carole believes that building strong relationships with pupils makes a positive difference to their learning and enjoyment of the sessions, boosting their self-belief and resilience to support them in their future education and later life.

Seeing the impact she has is the motivation for her: “Although it may sound cliché, those lightbulb moments, and knowing you are making a difference, makes this one of the most satisfying and rewarding roles I’ve ever done. Realising how pleased pupils are when you arrive in school definitely gives you a real buzz!"

When pupils achieve their SATs targets it’s really pleasing, especially when this is not expected or from a pupil who appeared to have the most difficulty. But mainly it is the development in confidence, social skills and enthusiasm for learning which is more achievable with a small group or 1:1 and these are things they can take back to the classroom and beyond.”

Carole

And Carole knows firsthand how much a part of the school community tutors can be. Having worked at St John's CE Primary in Salford doing a mixture of 1:3 and 1:1 tutoring for the last 18 months, Carole applied on their behalf to a national competition. The prize was a football kit, offered to encourage girls to play, and, after some chasing, Carole was told that hers was one of the winning entries! The school will be presented with the kit in Spring 2024.

Carole feels that the benefits of tutoring definitely go both ways: “I have learnt a lot about myself through tutoring and feel the impact and experience with my tutees has enhanced my teaching skills and professional development.”

Carole’s advice for anyone thinking of applying to tutor is simply to give it a shot – whether they have teaching experience or not.

Don’t pe put off if you have never tried tuition before as, with support and training from Tutor Trust you will soon be confident in delivering high quality sessions which are further enhanced by your own knowledge, personality and experience.”

Carole