Clare Ford has been tutoring with The Access Project for over two years. She is currently tutoring Parese, one of our students from St Thomas More School, in Maths. “I first heard about The Access Project from someone at work who mentioned it,” Clare tells us.
“I didn’t go to a great school, and not many people went to university. I wanted to give more people the opportunity to reach their full potential.”
Clare works as a software engineer in an investment company
“I went to the University of Kent in Canterbury to first do a History degree,” she tells us. “I added a year in Computing and I really liked it. I then went on to study a Masters in Computer Science.”
Clare now works as a software engineer for an investment company in London. “I like Computer Science because it’s creative logic – it’s problem solving but you get to use your creativity.”
Inspiring Parese in Maths
Clare has been tutoring Parese in Maths for a year. “She’s really great,” Clare says enthusiastically. “She wants to get it and she works so hard. She really seems to be getting a lot out of our sessions.”
As we often see, the impact of tutoring also has a positive effect on other aspects of life for the young people we work with. “I’d like to think that the techniques we talk about around revision are applicable to wider things in life: looking at problems and finding ways to pull them apart. She seems a lot more confident.”
Parese only had great things to say about her tutor. “Clare has been really great,” she told us. “I’ve definitely started to see changes in my progression and understanding of certain topics in Maths. Clare has been so helpful and kind!”
Levelling the playing field for women in STEM subjects
Clare is keen to see more women take part in STEM subjects. “Somewhere along the lines in education, there was an idea that STEM subjects were for boys and arts subjects were for girls,” she explains. “Women are no less capable at doing STEM subjects than men, so the more women who do it, the more role models there are.”
In general Clare is committed to levelling the playing field for disadvantaged young people in education. “People from every background have their abilities and talents – it’s really naff if it’s limited by where they live, where they go to school, and what their parents do.”