PhD Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology student at the University of Kent providing support in statistics, research methods or critical analysis.

Find out more about Niall

• When did you develop an interest in your chosen field and in private tutoring?

  While I always loved English at school, I first developed an interest in Psychology when I was in TY. One undergrad degree, one Master's degree, and an in-progress PhD and it's safe to say I'm glad I chose Psychology! About four years ago, I provided my first proper tutoring sessions - some paid and some voluntarily at a youth project - and I immediately realised how much I enjoyed tutoring and how rewarding it was.

• Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students (and possibly those you like a little less).

  I teach English at Junior and Senior Cycle level, Higher and Ordinary, and I am happy to cover anything within the English curriculum. My priority at all levels of English is to impart the proper exam techniques onto students. Examiners are looking for very specific approaches to each answer and I think if you learn to 'game' this for lack of a better word, English can make much more sense as a subject. As for Psychology, I am quite well versed in quantitative statistics so that is mainly what I help students in (in SPSS and R, mainly). However, I am also capable of conceptualising good qualitative studies if students need advice on interview schedules, research questions, or the like.

• Did you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you?

  For Psychology, that would definitely be my undergrad stats teacher! She was fantastic at breaking down the principles of quantitative stats and providing SPSS tutorials in an accessible way that made me go from dreading stats in the beginning to loving it within a few weeks. Due to Covid, she, like me, also was providing all of this stats education on Teams calls so I learned how to be engaging and patient. For English, I have always had great English teachers throughout school so that fostered my enjoyment of the subject.

• What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

  The three P's - Preparation, Patience, and Positivity. Preparation is obviously needed as a good tutor should always have planned out how they're going to approach a session and how to address each student's needs. Patience is crucial as well because I think as a tutor you always have to remember that while the topics you're covering are familiar to you, the person you're tutoring is usually only encountering them for the first time. Positivity, finally, is for when those first few minutes where you chat with a student to figure out how things are going and build a rapport with them. If you dive right in without taking those few minutes to chat, then you lose engagement straight away.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  While I was born in raised in Ireland, I moved to the UK in late 2023 to pursue a Masters in Cognitive Psychology, and so there I was in this completely new University waiting for our orientation to start. As I was waiting outside the door, I heard some students from my course discussing neuroscience, the philosophy of psychology, and other very high-minded things and I felt like such an impostor. I thought that I was out of element for sure! But I just put my head down, did the work consistently, and just focused on my own learning and I ended up with the highest marks in my cohort. So, whether for English or Psychology, don't worry if you're feeling behind, just do your best and you'll end up fine.

• What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or still facing in your subject?

  For Psychology, I think a PhD constantly throws up new challenges, there's no one thing. You plan to get X done by the end of the week but then five other things come up which interfere with that haha. Timing was definitely the main challenge I faced in English. I spent a lot of Fifth Year grappling with this until I figured out how to allocate my time exactly proportional to the marks given whilst still answering everything the examiners want you to - something which I try to impart to other students.

• Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different?

  I think mainly it would be Psychology - I'm a bit of a workaholic! But to give a more personally insightful answer, I love football, be it supporting Man United, playing fantasy football, or playing Football Manager. That would be the main one but I watch a lot of TV series, and I've also got back into reading.

• What makes you a Superprof (besides answering these interview questions :-P) ?

  I think for Psychology, on a given day, I've almost certainly just finished wrestling with a problem in my own work before jumping into a session with a student so I'm almost always in the headspace for stats! For English, I'm young enough to remember what secondary school was like, especially when you're doing a subject you're struggling with (I was awful at Metalwork in First and Second Year, though I got good when I had an amazing teacher in Third Year) so I take quite an empathetic approach to struggling students..