Bilingual Private Teacher

• Bilingual Private Teacher with Curriculum Design Experience
• Middle/Secondary Level (Ages 9-18)
• Catalonia, Spain
• (Virtual) Start Date: July 15, 2023
• (In Person) Start Date: September 1, 2023

The Position

An adventurous, fun, nature-loving family seeks like-minded, self-motivated private teacher to provide an outdoor-focused, connection and SEL/SEE grounded education for a very bright, energetic 10-year-old girl. The family is relocating to the Muga River Valley in Catalonia, Spain to work with the Spanish registered Fundación Pioneers of Our Time (PoOT) as they build out an ambitious and exciting environmental, social and economic rural regeneration project. This patient and energetic teacher will design and implement grade-appropriate curricula that utilizes the land, land management and practices of the rural regeneration project as the ‘school’.

Qualifications

The successful candidate for this position:

• Is first and foremost a patient and passionate educator of young minds.
• Has a degree and a current, good standing teaching certificate in secondary (ages 12-18) or middle level (ages 9-13) education.
• Has minimum 5 years direct teaching experience with children ages 9 to 14.
• Has documented success in outdoor education or is extremely capable and comfortable in nature/wilderness.
• Has training and teaching experience in emotionally responsive education practices such trauma-informed or SEE/SEL models.
• Is adventurous, eager to problem solve on the go, self-motivated and self-organizing.
• Has Spanish and English written and spoken fluency and can teach all aspects of the curriculum in either language.
• Is skilled at documenting both academic progress and emotional wellbeing, including experience in collecting and interpreting data from formative and summative assessments.
• Is a communicative team player able to work in partnership with parents and key members of POOT’s education team so that appropriate program adjustments can be made in a timely manner.
• Has training and/or experience in curriculum development.
• Is not just willing, but excited, to live in Spain and to use the rural areas around Albanyá, Spain as the work and teaching space.
• Is able to use the International Baccalaureate program as the skills development map.
• May possess an outdoor/wilderness teaching certificate through a university or an organization such as NOLS or Outward Bound.
• May possess experience in permaculture design and philosophy.
• May possess a degree in environmental or other natural sciences and/or teaching qualification for the same.

Additional Requirements

• Legal to work in Spain.
• Valid drivers’ license and passport with minimum validity through September 2025.
• Current educational license, in good standing with issuing authority.
• Active, fit, non-smoker.
• Available to start at least remotely for planning purposes July 15, 2023 and in person in Spain September 1, 2023.
• Willing and able to make a minimum two year commitment.

The Position in Greater Detail

The student is entering 6th grade in September. Her remaining primary education years should be designed to both permit her to pursue higher education, should that be her chosen path, and as importantly, prepare her for the unique challenges of the century into which she has been born.

From her parent’s perspective, this means utilizing experiential learning to grow a fundamental understanding and respect of how to operate with, and within, nature. It also implies that she must gain a deep insight into the science and on-the-ground realities of how, as human society, we must revise our systems to be harmonious with and generative for the planet.

The opportunity presents for her education to unfold significantly outdoors with her classroom being the agroforestry, biodiversity, watershed management, permaculture farm and community that is at the heart of the Muga Valley Project run by the Pioneers of Our Time Foundation. This means science, math, history, ethics, arts, PE – whatever may be defined and age-appropriate modules within the International Baccalaureate system – will need to be imagined and actualized outdoors to the greatest extent possible, teaching inside only when necessary or appropriate for establishing context for experiential and project based learning.

This student learns best when she has a solid emotional connection with the adults and peers in her life, and when her daily program is grounded in principles of social-emotional wellness. It is helpful if you have previous training in a trauma-responsive social-emotional learning approach, and we will provide opportunities for you to receive professional development training and on-going support in such an approach. This need is most urgent and significant in the upcoming two years. Within the frameworks of these systems, the teacher will need to establish both a strong bond and compassionately but tightly held boundaries to allow the student to strengthen her capacities for healthy attachment and self regulation.

The plan in year two or three is to introduce other participants to join in this unique and powerful education model, creating a small and engaging pod of learners. But for now, the focus is on her as the only student.

To Apply – Application Deadline May 1, 2023

To apply please send the following documents to Teacher@PioneersOfOurTime.com

• A cover letter describing the following:
• Why you are a good candidate for this position;
• How you’ve achieved fluency to teach in both Spanish and English;
• Your educational philosophy on teaching children and how you apply it to individualize the teaching for the child in front of you;
• Your experience and philosophy of teaching SEL and examples of how you would implement SEL/trauma-informed teaching with students.
• Please share any PRAXIS (or other knowledge evaluation test appropriate to your credentials) scores that you have.
• If you have them, please also provide samples of curricula you have planned.
• Your resume, including relevant accreditations, experience and training for this position.

If we are interested in you for this position, please know that:

• We will ask for three professional and one personal reference;
• Before an offer will be extended, you will need to authorize a full background check.

Receipt of your application will be acknowledged. Applicants will be reviewed on a rolling basis and we will receive applications until the position has been filled.

Compensation

Gross Salary: $60,000+. For uniquely suitable and experienced candidates a higher starting salary will be considered.