Colin Hegarty

I love maths and teaching it! I was the first person in my family to attend university, going to Oxford University and obtaining a First Class degree in Mathematics. For six years after university I worked in finance in the City but always felt the urge to fulfil my ambition to become a maths teacher – and so I decided to train to be a teacher.

Over and above my enjoyment of the beauty of maths, the main reason I wanted teach maths was that I understand the subject and a skill in it has become a life differentiator. Often good skills and qualifications in maths open up access to well-paid and desirable jobs. All too often I believe that many students just don’t end up with the choice to access these jobs through a lack of confidence in maths and lack of a little bit of extra support along the way in their maths studies. I believe that if you work hard and have access to the right support you can achieve anything. One of my favourite quotes is from a book called Bounce, by Matthew Syed who says

If you want to bend it like Beckham or fade it like Tiger you have to work like crazy , regardless of your genes, creed or colour.
There is no shortcut to success in life

The reason I am a teacher and the aim of HegartyMaths is to help kids who need a little extra support in maths and provide them with a platform to work hard and access to the opportunities and choices to be successful in their lives.