English Education Teaching

Project Description

Since 1989, over 900 Volunteers have served in The Republic of Vanuatu. Home to the Melanesian Ni-Vanuatu, Vanuatu is a beautiful archipelago in the South Pacific with a total population of approximately 330,000 people spread across 83 islands in 6 provinces. Vanuatu proudly maintains strong cultural traditions known as kastom (custom) and is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world with over 130 indigenous languages.

Vanuatu has a 15-year National Sustainable Development Plan from 2016-2030, which follows three main pillars: societal, environmental, and economic. Quality education is featured under the societal pillar, with a stated goal of “a quality education system that ensures that every child has the resources, attention, and focus they need to effectively learn and gives every child the opportunity to thrive.” The Vanuatu Ministry of Education and Training is the largest government service provider and employer in Vanuatu, and ensuring reliable delivery of quality education services in remote island communities is an ongoing challenge.

In Vanuatu, children are taught in their local language through 2nd grade. From 3rd grade onwards, instruction switches to English. Children in Vanuatu therefore face a unique challenge in learning the English language while simultaneously learning to read. While the Ministry of Education has developed a robust literacy strategy to meet this challenge, only 65% of 4th graders meet minimum literacy standards.

Peace Corps Vanuatu’s literacy project is implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Education and aims to support teachers, school leadership, and community members to improve English literacy outcomes among primary school students.

The objectives of the literacy project are to:

1. Enhance the capacity of teachers in general and literacy teaching practices

2. Increase the capacity of teachers to use differentiated instructional practices in the classroom

3. Increase students’ foundational literacy skills

4. Increase the ability of families, caregivers, and community groups to support students’ access to learning

5. Increase students’ and teachers’ access to teaching/learning materials and resources to support literacy development

Peace Corps Volunteers (hereafter, Volunteers) serving as English Literacy Facilitators are paired with a primary school teacher who serves as the Volunteer’s counterpart. Volunteers will work closely with primary school teachers to co-design and refresh lesson plans, co-teach selected classes, and co-facilitate teacher training workshops on instructional techniques for general and literacy teaching skills. Volunteers may also work directly with students through the facilitation of after-school reading clubs, 1:1 tutoring sessions, or camps to facilitate literacy development. A key focus of Peace Corps Vanuatu’s literacy program is to ensure balanced access to education for boys and girls and access to differentiated instruction and assessment. After identifying students who need increased support for differentiated instruction, Volunteers will co-develop appropriate education resources to directly improve literacy skills and build teacher capacity in this area.

Volunteers will be creative in facilitating a variety of activities to engage parents and community members in childhood literacy. Depending on community and school needs, Volunteers will also have the opportunity to facilitate increased access to literacy resources, such as through Information & Communications Technology (ICT) support to teachers, students, and school administrators, establishment of a school library, or computer labs. Volunteers will be assigned to one primary school but may also work with community groups, school committees, and provincial leadership.

All Volunteers may take on secondary activities in areas such as disaster risk reduction, women and girls empowerment, youth development, or volunteerism.

Program

PCV

Post

Vanuatu

Required Skills

Qualified candidates will have a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in any discipline and a strong desire to teach English.

Desired Skills

Competitive candidates will have one or more of the following additional skills:

• Bachelor’s degree in Education

• Master’s degree in Education

• At least one year of classroom teaching experience at the Early Childhood, Elementary, or Middle School level. Montessori teaching experience is also acceptable.

• Experience providing language and/or literacy tutoring with children and/or adults

• Experience working with students with special needs

• Experience in training and workshop facilitation

SPECIAL NOTICE ABOUT CITIZENSHIP: Candidates who are dual citizens of Vanuatu and the U.S. are not eligible to serve with Peace Corps Vanuatu. Volunteer safety is of paramount importance, and the protections of U.S. citizenship promote Volunteer safety. If anyone holding dual U.S. and Vanuatu citizenship were to face a legal, safety, or other emergency situation in Vanuatu, the Peace Corps' ability to intervene would be limited. If you hold citizenship with both the U.S. and Vanuatu, we encourage you to look at other opportunities with Peace Corps.

Language Requirement

None

Living Conditions

Remote Islands:

Vanuatu is among the most remote places where Volunteers serve and is a short trip from Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji.

Community Locations:

Volunteers serve on different islands and community sizes range from small villages of 300 people to semi-urban provincial centers. Volunteers should be prepared to live and work in an under-resourced, rural, tropical island environment with unpaved roads, heat and humidity.

Air travel by small plane is required to reach communities. Volunteers will walk nearly everywhere, encounter varied terrain from coral beaches to muddy jungle paths and should feel comfortable traveling in boats, canoes and pick-up trucks.

Volunteers on the same island are placed within reasonable proximity to each other, but be separated by several hours of walking, boat or truck ride.

Housing:

During Pre-Service Training (PST) Trainees will live with host families or in independent housing within the family compound. After PST, Volunteers will be assigned host families and will either live in a homestay with their family or in separate houses close by. Volunteers can share meals and take part in their host family’s daily activities. Host families provide several advantages to Volunteer service including integration, language skills, friendship, cultural exchange, identifying resources, safety, security and understanding Vanuatu culture.

Houses are constructed of local materials like bamboo, thatched roofing, concrete blocks, or corrugated iron. The kitchen, toilet, bathroom are separate from the main house. Toilets are often pit latrines and most Volunteer do not have running water or electricity. Volunteers access electricity through solar panels and water from shared village water systems. Peace Corps prepares Volunteers to adapt to these living conditions during PST.

Volunteer sites have 3G/4G cellular network coverage, and internet access is spotty sometimes. Volunteers’ phone plans include free calls and texts to all Staff and Volunteers. Volunteers can either use their device with a Peace Corps-provided SIM card or be provided a local generic smartphone upon arrival. Some Volunteers may be issued a satellite phone and/or personal locator beacon for emergency communication.

Utilities and Transportation:

Communities have small stores, which sell limited dry goods. Provincial centers have larger stores, market, bank, and post office. Transportation to a provincial center may be unreliable and Volunteers rely on community members for directions. Peace Corps staff train Volunteers to prepare accordingly.

Food/Diet:

The diet consists primarily of banana, taro, yams, manioc, breadfruit, rice, leafy greens, tropical fruits, vegetables, canned corned beef, fish, and coconut milk. Most community members are subsistence farmers and PST includes guidance for sustaining healthy diets in Vanuatu and cooking island food with traditional stoves or open fires.

Clothing:

Dress code is informal but conservative. In professional settings, clothes include short-sleeved shirts or blouses, lightweight pants, and loose-fitting calf-length skirts or dresses. In informal settings in the community Volunteers will wear knee-length shorts, loose-fitting calf-length skirts, lava lava and a t-shirt (not sleeveless).

Primary Sector

Education

Apply By

01-Oct-2025

Know By

15-Jan-2026

Start Date

13-Jun-2026

Assignment Length (months)

24

Positions Available

15

Accepts Couples

Yes

Accepting Applications?

Yes

Request Type

171 English Education Teaching

Posted on LinkedIn

No