Serena
"Serena was kind, patient and so knowledgeable in her field."
Economics A-Level
Business Studies
Economics
Italian
Politics
Sociology
Spanish
Academic History
PHD Economics – (2014) University of Manchester, UK
MSC Development Economics and Policy – (2009) University of Manchester, UK
BA Law with minor in Political Economy – (2008) University of Naples Federico II, Italy
About Me
My tutoring approach is to try as much as possible to customise the delivery and pace to the individual I am working with. Students are all different be it in terms of background, age, capabilities, talents, and what they enjoy and respond to. I have therefore in my practice tended to identify strengths and weaknesses right from the beginning so as to tailor my approach to them.
Depending on the student’s background, age and expectations, I also as much as possible try to incorporate fun and humour in the teaching so I to keep them engaged and to keep the work light. In this context, I also try to connect the material that we are studying to real world examples so us to make it more relatable and more practical. The approach has worked very well with students of different ages in backgrounds. Finally, I believe the empathy is of the utmost importance when dealing with students and tutoring, and I try as much as possible to incorporate that in my communication and approach.
Recent tuition
I am a Senior Lecturer and Researcher in the fields of Economics, International Development and Political Economy, with over 20 years’ experience of teaching students at different levels and in a number of subjects, mainly in the field of Social Sciences. I tutor Business Studies, Politics and Sociology GCSE and A Level, and Economics from GCSE to Postgraduate level. In addition, I tutor Italian, English and Spanish.
Below is a snapshot of my recent tutoring experience.
Italian – Adult Learning
I am a mother tongue Italian speaker, with experience of teaching two adult learners Italian. We focussed primarily on improving grammar and conversation skills.
Economics GCSE
I tutored in a 1: 2 setting two students preparing for their GCSEs and helped them with both studying method and technique and with content and notation. They went on to pass their exams and in the following years I got to teach the brother and sister of one of the two students, too.
Economics A-Level
I tutored this student during her A-level economics preparation. She made very good progress over the three months’ tuition we work together for and went on to score an A in her test. The main problem in this case was related to studying technique so we made sure the strong foundations were laid before notions were accumulated. This allowed the learning to move from mnemonic to truly based on understanding.
Economics A-Level
I tutored a student throughout the year, so for several months, through the academic curriculum for economics. This was both in macro economics and micro economics. The main difficulty was with the mix between technical and more qualitative concepts and we worked to try and integrate studying methods and understanding in both fields.
Economics and Politics, Undergraduate (University of Oxford)
I tutored on a 1:2 basis students in economics and politics at the University of Oxford to provide them with a foundation of these social sciences subjects and to explore more advanced statistical concepts that could be applied in the technical applications of the field. The students were not preparing for an exam but rather just wanted to explore more advanced concepts in a 1:2 setting.
Economics, Undergraduate (University of Manchester)
I tutored a student who felt underconfident in economics due to the technical and mathematical component of it. We added fun, humour and real- world links to the mathematical notations and they went on to pass their exam with a distinction.
Hobbies
I am an avid reader, traveller, and I love music and dancing.
Testimonials
“Serena was kind, patient and so knowledgeable in her field. She helped L– acquire confidence alongside notions and made sure that her foundations were strong as they moved along with the curriculum. I could not recommend her more strongly.”
Parent of Economics A-level student
