Hi, my name is Brian. I am fully qualified teacher from a Russel Group University. I held the role of teacher, examiner, head of humanities, head of pastoral care, professional tutor and resources creator for top academic companies in my 12 years of professional teaching. I am most suitable for students who wish to drastically increase their grades with lots of resources, practice papers and support. I am the top Geography tutor on Spires, but I also offer other subject such as Environmental Science. I specialize in international curricula, but I also have a full range and experience to teach AQA, SQA, Edexcel and OCR in the UK.
It is hard to pick the right tutor, so let's have a free and quick video call for an introduction.
Recent Students: 33 |
Total Hours: 2297 |
Last Online: |
All-time Students: 139 |
Total Classes: 2201 |
Signed Up: |
Recent Students: 33 | Total Hours: 2297 | Last Online: |
All-time Students: 139 | Total Classes: 2201 | Signed Up: |
I am an avid traveller. I have visited over 50 countries and lived in 5.
Mountaineering, trekking and climbing are my favourite past times. I spend a lot of time among waterfalls, glaciers and volcanos.
When I get the chance, I scuba dive and surf along some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world.
Hi,
My name is Brian O'Dea. I am a qualified Geography teacher and have been teaching since 2011. I held the role of teacher, examiner, head of humanities, head of pastoral cares, and, professional tutor and resources creator for top academic companies in my 12 years of professional teaching.
I have experience teaching various exam boards including CIE, AQA, Edexcel, Educas, OCR, Leaving Certificate, IB, and SQA both in the UK and internationally. I have professionally tutored online for over 1800 hours on various platforms.
I have had hundreds of pupils pass through my classroom and I have an excellent track record with both GCSE and A levels or their equivalent with a 95% reaching their target grade.
Online, I prepare tutoring sessions to the ability and needs of each of my students. I am available between tutoring sessions to answer questions or clarify some points from the lesson. I also set homework tasks and exam papers questions to give you complete support and ensure quick development. Entire mock exams are available upon request.
I am available for a quick chat if you have any questions and would like to know how I can help.
GEOGRAPHY - in all its forms. As I have needed to adapt to many curricula so I have the experience to help students studying any exam board to master both their knowledge and their exam skills. For help with the international curriculum, I am highly experienced.
When learning the concepts of the course I break them down and master them piece by piece. Also, students can often lack the detail required and may just need to add to their current understanding.
For exam skills, such as getting to that top level in essays, I want the students to understand how the examiner works in order for them to understand what will get them to that next level. From there, we practice and master.
What is nice about tutoring is that each student is coming in with different areas for improvement. I like to work with them to find exactly how I can help.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE/ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT - I have had the pleasure of teaching this as it has grown in popularity. It is still a growing subject around the world and I am one of the few teachers that have direct experience with it.
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES - I have taught on and off for a few years, mainly in the context of a tutor. I enjoy working on all aspects as it fits in nicely with my passions as both Geography and Environmental Science play a major role in this.
IGCSE HISTORY - Although I am mainly a Geography teacher, History is my first love and I have taught it to GCSE level for the past 10 years, as well as having a BA in History. I like the IGCSE course and enjoy helping students with it. I am highly experienced with mastering exam techniques.
IB Environmental Systems and Society and Geography - As a classroom teacher I was not teaching the IB curriculum. However, through online tutoring I have now had 3 years of experience with these two subject and highly enjoy working with students from the IB course.
As a parent, I hired Brian twice to accelerate my son’s Geography progress, first for the AS exam and later for the A-level. Due to Brian's excellent tutoring skills, commitment to my son’s progress, and his effective teaching style, my son Stefan made significant progress in formulating and structuring his answers, gaining clarity on some of the topics, and building more self-confidence in his skills. We have been very lucky to have Brian in our support team for the A-level exams, and he has helped maintain Geography as an attractive subject worthy of study at the university level. I strongly recommend Brian as Geography tutor! Many thanks!
Excellent Teaching
Very clear and straightfoward with content taught, effective in teaching how to work through questions.
Useful
Great tutor !!! Takes time to explain topics in depth. Provides top notch slides with exam questions for you to be fully prepared. Most importantly always corrects your questions quickly. Is attentive when explaining certain difficult topics and makes sure that you understand each entire topic by going through it twice if needed. Lastly very knowledgable with different exam boards : AQA, EDEXCEL and CIE.
In today's class, Brian walked through some essay plans on human geography which has been helpful for me in terms of understanding the meaning of the question, and also allowing my exam preparation to become easier.
We finished chapter 1 hydrology. We went through most of the topics and went through case studies that can be used in my essay where I found helpful. We have just started chapter 2 and Mr Brian explained points clearly.
We revise one 15-mark essay that I have wrote in one of the quizzes. Mr Brian gives clear advices on how to improve on evidence/explanation and I found helpful. We also go through formation of delta, braided channel. My confused points about helicoidal/turbulent flow were all well explained in class.
Excellent !
Super helpful and gave really useful advice!
From an IGCSE Geography student
"Brian has been a true blessing not just for lessons but in life. I started with Brian after leaving a negative experience with school to become home-schooled. It was a scary journey due to it being such a new path, however, Brian’s expertise in Geography made the transition much more smooth. I was tracking at a level 7 in school and came out with an 8. A grade I am extremely pleased with under personal and global circumstances.
Every lesson was well prepared, with engaging conversations and presentations with pictures and clear details which helped to lock in knowledge, even in boring topis ;). Brian always had a great explanation to all questions; was easy to contact and always had prompt responses away from lessons. Brian consistently had new ways of explaining topics I misunderstood and a plethora of resources to hand. Brian’s patient, understanding aura did not go unnoticed and aided me to look forward to each lesson. It is truly great to have a geography teacher who travels the world, it allows each lesson to come to life, even more, making the lessons feel more valuable. I highly recommend Brian to anyone wanting help in this subject, I am deeply grateful for Brian’s support."
Parent, IGCSE Geography
"Mainly I wanted to say thank you so much for helping with the GCSE assessments. I'm pleased to say both (name removed) and (name removed) achieved a 9. Thank you for your fabulous explanation and for helping home educated children be recognised in a difficult year. Wishing you all the best for the future."
From a parent, IGCSE
Brian tutored my son online in Environmental Management at IGCSE level for approx. 18 months. We hadn’t planned to home school but after an unhappy start to senior school along with the arrival of covid, it was our only option. We needn’t have worried. Brian was incredibly supportive and calm from the start which was exactly what my son (and myself, as his parent) needed especially when embarking on what could have been a long, stressful and unknown journey. Brian taught for one hour a week, sometime two, and my son learnt more in those lessons than he would ever have done in a classroom environment. His ‘notes’ and lesson were always full of colour with interesting photographs (often from trips that Brian had made personally) and his outstanding knowledge of the subject meant that my son always looked forward to his time with Brian. Brian was an exceptionally good listener and gave encouragement and praise where due and helped him to overcome his weaknesses. His lesson very well structured and he spent time patiently helping my son with his question techniques and writing skills which improved significantly. In the end, he achieved an A grade and we were delighted. Above all, Brian is a kind, very competent and professional tutor whom I would have no hesitation in recommending to any potential students. Thank you, Brian, for all the support and kindness that you showed us and we wish you well with your future plans. Any student would be exceptionally fortunate to have you as their tutor.
Parent of a GCSE student
"We needed Brian to help our son work on his GCSE Geography coursework. Our son has ADD and Brian was very insightful and flexible about how best to deal with this - short sessions and frequency. All the sessions worked well, despite my son's difficulties and he was proud to take what he achieved into school. I have no doubt it will increase his marks. Brian was calm, friendly, helpful and totally on top of the requirements of my son's coursework. Highly recommended"
Parent - International A Level Geography
"I would like to thank you for all the great help you offered to (name removed) the last couple of months. She was very fortunate to have you as a tutor who helped her to overcome the serious problem she faced with her geography class at school. We hope that next year this will not be repeated but we know that we can count on you. Most importantly, (name removed) learnt what an interesting course Geography is and she learnt to enjoy it. Thus, once again thank you for all the support you offered to her"
A level Geography student
"I was extremely lucky to come across Brian. He is an incredible, all in one teacher. Every lesson is well prepared and extra resources are provided. He is up to date with all changes to syllabus and exam requirements. Brian is very friendly and patient, he always finds time to answer my questions even besides lessons time. He has lots of geographical knowledge and experience from all over the world. I am always looking forward to have a lesson with him, it is worth every penny"
Verified
QTS since 2012
PGCE in Humanities (Geography and History) from the University of Edinburgh
BA (Hons) in Geography and History from the National University of Ireland, Galway
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