Online Geography Tutor Brian

I completed my post-graduate in education in Edinburgh and taught in the UK for many years.
I taught in international schools in China.
I am an avid traveller. I have visited almost 50 countries and lived in 5.
Mountain trekking and climbing are my favourite past times. I spend a lot of time among 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 and head of the department for two of those years. 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 1500 hours on various platforms.

Testimonial from an A level Geography student tutored on Spires.co, March 2019.
"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 the syllabus and exam requirements. Brian is very friendly and patient, he always finds time to answer my questions even during lessons time. He has lots of geographical knowledge and experience from all over the world. I am always looking forward to having a lesson with him, it is worth every penny"

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.

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 for the lesson. I also set homework tasks and exam papers questions to give you complete support and ensure quick development.

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 - I have had the pleasure of teaching it for two years. 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.

Great.

Will - Geography

Excellent!!!

Stefano - Geography

Brian is an excellent teacher. He explains knowledges in a detailed and organized way with the help of pictures and diagrams, so it is easy for me to understand. The notes sending to me after each lessons are quite comprehensive and help me a lot with my revision. Besides, he encouraged me to answer questions in classes, which let me know whether I truly understand the knowledge and where I was going wrong. In a word, the lessons were very efficient and helped me a lot with my geography examinations.

Yanjun - Geography

Brian is thorough and methodical, also generous in proving extra materials

Ariella - Geography

Reallyconstructivecontent

Sam - Geography

Brian has been very informative and helpful with my son's coursework. He was friendly and personable and my son gained a better understanding on the areas he was lacking. I will certainly continue to use him for 1:1 lessons.

Tammy - Geography

Very structured and specific to my needs

Sam - Geography

Brian is a fabulous tutor that cotinues to keep my son focused at all times in the session. Brian's feedback is detailed and a very useful guide for my son to help with his planning for his upcoming mock exams in Jan. Brian always gets back to us regarding any queries we have with helpful hints and suggestions. So happy with Brian's service!

Hema - Geography

We have only started a few sessions with Brian but he is clear and concise in his explaining a and presents the topics really well - keeping the student engaged and focused at all times. We are very happy with Brian!

Hema - Geography

Excellent feedback!

John - Environmental systems and societies

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."

From a Parent, IGCSE, 2021 "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"

From a parent of an international A Level Geography student on Spires.co, May 2019 "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"

From an A level Geography student tutored on Spires.co, July 2018 - March 2019. "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"