Daniel joined Carshalton College in September 2014 as an English Tutor. Daniel is a great asset to the College with his wealth of experience in his career from running his own business, teaching to his passion as a writer, inspiring students about where creativity can lead you if you take opportunities.
Among his many talents, Daniel’s passion is writing and his first book, ‘A Collection of Thoughts & Too Much Time’ was published in 2013. It is available online worldwide and in bookstores such as Foyles and WH Smiths. In America it featured on the New Talk Radio show and is on sale in campus book stores. He describes it as
“Life is simply a series of snapshots, with each snap a particular event. I have tried to capture some of these events, not using a camera or mobile phone, but rather, to express my feelings and thoughts about them. Clearly, I have also had far too much time on my hands!”
From a young age, Daniel’s ambition was to be a writer, starting with an interest in drama novels and being inspired by social politics and working class novels. He left school at 16 in a time when you were expected to leave education and get a job. His career started by training as a mason and setting up his own business fitting designer bathrooms and kitchens, renovations and installing Edwardian tiling. As the owner of the business, Daniel worked with the Youth Opportunities Programme to help provide work experience for 16 year olds in masonry, plumbing, plastering, construction and flooring. During this period working with young people, Daniel found he spent a lot of his time teaching the students English and Maths to help in their job roles and inspired him to think about a career in teaching.
Following a back injury, Daniel had to close the business and decided to go back into education himself and train as a teacher. He completed his GCSEs and A Levels before enrolling at Roehampton University in 1995 to complete a degree in English, History and Philosophy, a Masters in Literature and Politics and his teaching qualifications. Daniel graduated in 2002 after spending a number of years studying, volunteering as an English Tutor to gain experience and working to earn money to support his studies.
Two professors at the University inspired Daniel to think about his interest in English and look at different forms including poetry. It was during this time that Daniel realised his love with writing was based on forming a written response to what is happening socially in the world, people watching and capturing a snapshot of a situation and creating a story and the value of working with unedited material.
As a teacher, his career started in 2003 when he joined NESCOT College in Epsom as a sessional teaching. Daniel worked at NESCOT for 8 years becoming a full time English Tutor, Co-ordinator of Skills and Head of Skills. He then went onto similar roles at South Thames College and West Thames College before taking a break to concentrate on his writing and then joining Carshalton College in 2014. In his role as an English Tutor, his focus is on the learners achieving and feels everyone deserves the opportunity to progress and working with his team they support students in their journey to achieving their qualifications.
His second book focuses on his grandchildren and is called ‘Millie’s Thoughts’ and his third book due for release as a Kindle E Book with illustrations is titled ‘Millie That Kid’. Daniel’s next project is a novel he is half way through which is about immigration. It is an account through his father’s eyes who moved to Britain from Poland after the Second World War and the day to day struggles and racism that existed.