Featured Job

Grade 4 & 5 Primary Homeroom Teacher

We are looking for adventurous, fun, and creative teachers to join us!

Manglares Discovery School is a private micro-school in its fourth year, set on a secluded, natural jungle campus. Our students range from age 3 to age 11, and the school serves the nearby beach/surf community of Playa Venao. Our school is focused on developing the whole child; academic as well as social and emotional well-being.

Our early education uses a Reggio Emilia-inspired curriculum, and our goal is to permeate this philosophy of the project-based approach through all of our grade levels.

The area offers much potential in terms of inquiry extensions. For example, the campus is home to a waterfall; we get almost daily visits from three species of monkeys and other birds and animals. The local community has various interesting cultural traditions. Our student-teacher ratio is approximately 6 children to 1 teacher for preschool (but often less), and 10 to 1 for kindergarten.

Our elementary grades use a US-based curriculum of reading, writing, language arts, math, science, and social studies. Then-candidate must have experience leading a homeroom class and display familiarity with engaging children and can follow the curriculum to create lesson plans. Occasionally we try to engage the children to lead projects. PBL experience is appreciated but not necessary. The class size ranges from around 10 students in a split-grade classroom.

We started with a single, early-education classroom, but have since expanded into elementary grades. We are now looking for a lead teacher to bring the child-led, inquiry-driven spirit into our elementary grades (Grades 4 & 5).

Our teachers bring diverse perspectives and love engaging with the children. The candidate(s) must embrace positive discipline, be open-minded and willing to adapt and incorporate various learning tools, pay attention to the student's learning needs & interests, lead discussions, inspire collaboration and reflection, and model a love of learning. The candidate(s) must have experience being in a classroom and display familiarity with teaching phonics and grade-level math.

If you believe in developing the whole child, love working with children, believe that life is an adventure, love nature, believe in the hidden potential of children, and want to try working at a growing school in a tropical location, this position might be a great fit for you!

The position requires relocation to rural Panama. Playa Venao is often regarded as the surfing capital of Panama with consistent year-round waves. The candidate(s) must be willing to adjust to a new environment & culture (a slower pace of life) and enjoy nature (or learn to embrace it)

Posted: May 2022

This is a Direct to School Job

Applications for this position will be received directly by the school and will not be reviewed by Teach Away's Placement Coordinators.

Any communication about the job will take place directly between you and the institution. Tracking of your application status will take place within the application tracking system used by the school you are applying to (outside of your Teach Away Dashboard).

Please note that Teach Away provides information on behalf of schools and cannot accept liability for information provided or policies schools may adopt. Be sure to verify all details that apply to you, and check for the latest visa and work permit requirements. For any questions regarding job postings, please contact the school directly. Teach Away believes in diversity and inclusivity, and that everyone deserves to be treated with respect and be considered fairly and equally for employment. We ensure all schools we work with adhere to our pledge to promote inclusivity and diversity in education and recruitment practices.

Location	Playa Venao, Panama
Start Date	February 2023
Eligible Candidates	Licensed Teacher, College/University Faculty, University Graduate
Student Level	Early Childhood, Elementary
Number of Vacancies	1

Job Benefits

Negotiable for the right candidate
Negotiable for the right candidate
International travel medical insurance

Qualifications and Requirements

Education Required	Bachelor
Major	Education, Psychology, or related field
Additional School Requirements
Teaching license not required but relevant educational training or classroom experience is required Some experience with positive discipline / gentle approach and/or constructivist learning theories

About the School

Our Philosophy We believe that every child wants to and can learn. When children find meaning in learning, they are motivated and challenged, and take ownership of their learning. We value every child as an individual. Our children have diverse learning needs and bring with them a wide range of experiences, beliefs, knowledge, and skills. We adapt our teaching pace, approaches, and assessment practices to be effective and appropriate for where the child is in development. We believe that learning takes place in caring and safe environments. We cultivate positive teacher-student and peer relationships so that there is a culture of care and mutual respect in our classrooms, where children learn to appreciate diversity. They are encouraged to take risks, learn from their mistakes and one another, and be confident in expressing their views. Learning takes place individually and collaboratively, as children construct and co-construct meaning from knowledge and experiences. We guide learners to activate prior knowledge and assimilate and accommodate new knowledge through exploration and interaction with others. This allows them to build a strong foundation of knowledge by connecting new ideas and experiences with what they already know, thus facilitating the understanding of concepts and the application of what they have learned to different contexts. We believe in developing thinking skills and dispositions in our learners. To do this, we guide them to construct, interpret, and evaluate knowledge from different perspectives. We help learners understand that by thinking about their thinking, they can monitor, assess and improve their learning. Assessment is integral to the learning process and helps children become self-directed learners. As such, we design assessments with clarity of purpose, to provide our learners and us with feedback to address learning gaps and improve teaching practices.