Biography - Robin Hull
- Principal of Hull's School Zürich, Switzerland
- Zürich Local Secretary EDEXCEL International
- Member of the Board of Trustees of SAMD (Schweizerische Alpine Mittelschule Davos)
- Curator of the International Aldous Huxley Society (IAHS)
- Chairman of the Swiss Dyslexia Association (VDS – Verband Dyslexie Schweiz)
- Member of the Board of Patrons of the Music Eyes Foundation
- Examiner for the KV Berufsmatura (BM)
- Member of the Canton Zurich Advisory Council for International Schools
- Member of the Swiss Group of International Schools (SGIS)
Robin Hull was born in 1961 into a multi-cultural family in the Zürcher Oberland, with an English father, James Hull, and an Italian-Swiss mother, Carmelita Scotoni. He was educated at Swiss schools, including Katholisches Gymnasium in Zurich and Kantonsschule Wetzikon, and studied English and German Philology at Zurich University (Germanistik, Anglistik). After undergoing training as a Swiss Gymnasiallehrer he completed a post-graduate qualification in teaching with the RSA and became a major in the Swiss army.
Robin Hull started working as an examiner already as a teenager for the University of Cambridge examinations in English as a Second Language. He started teaching English as a foreign language during his studies and took over Hull's School from his father in his late 20s. It subsequently became one of the largest private language schools in Switzerland and he felt that it was time to be more active in national and international associations. In the early 2000s Robin Hull joined the committee of the English Teachers' Association of Switzerland (ETAS), the International House World Organisation (IHWO) and the Zurich Conference for Further Education (ZKW). He also started acting as a Berufsmatura examiner for the KV Business School in Zurich. When the focus of Hull's School shifted from language training to general education and became the first English sixth form college for Swiss teenagers (Kurzgymnasium), Robin Hull involved himself more in a number of national associations, including the Canton Zurich Advisory Council for International Schools, the board of trustees (Stiftungsrat) of the Schweizerische Alpine Mittelschule Davos (SAMD), the Swiss Group of International Schools (SGIS), the Music Eyes Foundation and the Verband Dyslexie Schweiz VDS (Swiss Dyslexia Association), of which he is the proud chairman.
Robin Hull is also an enthusiastic Huxleyan. He has been a curator of the International Aldous Huxley Society (IAHS) for more than 20 years and enjoys himself writing about Huxley whenever he has a moment. 2020 will see the launch of the Zurich Huxley Centre and the Huxley Collection, the world's leading permanent exhibition of first editions of Aldous Huxley.
Robin Hull has published a number of essays and articles both on education and English literature. The 'Guide to the Swiss educational system' is his first book. He is currently working on a book about Aldous Huxley.
Robin Hull lives with his Latvian wife, five children, a dog and two cats in the Zurich Oberland.
Publications:
Fragments of an evolutionary psychology. In: Aldous Huxley, Man of Letters, Critic, Thinker. Nugel et al (ed), Wien 2005
Why Swiss students opt for English university entrance examinations. In: ETAS Bulletin Volume 24, Winter 2006
Nachwort zu 'Die ewige Philosophie', Aldous Huxley, Lit Verlag, Wien 2008
How Swiss teenagers read Brave New Word. In: Huxley Annual Vol 12/13, ed. Nugel, Meckier, 2012/2013
Dyslexie und Dyskalkulie, ZLV Magazin 4-18, 2018
Knowledge and Understanding in Huxley's Perennial Philosophy, in: Aldous Huxley and Self-Realisation, Sawyer et al (ed.), Wien, 2019
Swiss learners with dyslexia and dyscalculia succeed in the UK system. In: C. Mc Bride, Coping with Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and ADHD. A Global Perspective, Routledge, 2019, pp 100-101.
A guide to the Swiss educational system, Zurich, 2020