'So Chris, what exactly do you do?'

People often ask me the above question recently or show an interest in how the freelance journey is going. I am now in my 5th year of doing this in some form - for the first 3 years I continued to teach part-time. When I was a full time teacher the answer to the question 'what exactly do you do each day?' was quite straightforward. In my new freelance role the answer is a little more complex. So it's probably worth explaining how the question gets answered these days

Essentially my work involves 5 main things

1. I am an examiner - I have various senior roles including working as a Principal Examiner for A Level RS with a leading exam board. I also mark GCSE RS and mark International Examinations for a couple of organisations at GCSE and A Level equivalent. I have also done some mock marking for an Educational organisation. I also offer my own mock marking services if you want an independent assessment of your students and/or some relief from your workload.

2. I am a writer - As well as blog posts and occasional TES articles, I am a textbook author (see Amazon page) for A Level RS, have a book on teacher wellbeing and most recently a Hodder OCR GCSE textbook (Christianity and Islam) with Julian Waterfield and Waqar Ahmedi. There have been a few other conversations and I have a few other ideas and things in draft when I get time...

3. I am a trainer/speaker - working with OCR and others I deliver training to teachers mainly around Religious Studies and Philosophy at A level and GCSE. Increasingly I am being contacted directly for bespoke sessions. I can also be booked directly and also have a wealth of experience in wellbeing and middle leadership amongst other things.

4. I provide resources - such as resource packs to support teachers. OCR A level RS and AQA Philosophy are currently available - there are packs for each module or overall bundles. I hope to add to the resource packs in due course by developing some GCSE RS packs. You can also purchase slightly cheaper copies of my textbooks and Booster session recordings for a number of topics.

5. I deliver events - both online and in real life including online Booster sessions through my website as well as revision sessions for other organisations. I have also delivered some bespoke events in schools including a very successful event for 200+ A Level students at Wells Cathedral School. I have been to London, York, Battle, Uppingham, Leicester, Salisbury, Birmingham and several other places in the last couple of years.

I also aim do a couple of free events each year as a way of giving back - so if your teachmeet needs a speaker, your church or Alpha group needs someone or you want some Philosophy in the community, get in touch and if I can manage it, I will try to fit you in. And, as ever, if there is anything else I've missed but you think I can help with, let me know.