A Peace Corps Response Volunteer (PCRV) is needed to serve as an Occupational Therapy Advisor with Mico University College Child Assessment and Research in Education (CARE) Centre in Jamaica. The CARE Centre is Jamaica’s leading public educational institution and the country’s only public facility providing ongoing support to children 5-18 years. The Centre normally carries a waiting list of over 600 children. There are not enough trained, experienced people locally to meet the needs of those children, and rural clients are the ones most affected as access to special education service is outside their reach. To fulfill its mandate, the Centre is currently providing remedial and special education teacher training to over twenty university students along with training for parents and teachers. The PCRV will assist this effort as an advisor/instructor, focused on building the capacity of the students and faculty of the teacher’s college in the area of occupational therapy.

A PCRV, with a bachelor’s degree in Education or other relevant field, one year of international experience in education, tutoring, and literacy instruction, 3 years’ work experience with children (with children 5 – 12 years of age), and experience in occupational therapy assessment is needed to provide training and develop therapeutic strategies for faculty and students being utilized to help the children in need of that service. The Occupational Therapy Advisor will guide the CARE Centre’s staff on their work with parents in promoting the early detection of disabilities of children in order to assess their development, assist teachers to work with parents to develop local instruments capable of diagnosing various disabilities in the cultural context of the Jamaica/Caribbean society, conduct research, and collate information and disseminate the results to interested parties who are operating in the field of Special Education and General Education in Jamaica. The overall goal of this assignment is to educate parents and teachers through workshops and seminars about occupational therapy strategies.

Please note that departure dates and other details of this project could change because of the uncertainties as Peace Corps and local partners resume volunteer operations. Candidates selected for this position will be arriving in Jamaica together as a group, so while the departure dates for the whole group could change, dates cannot be changed for individual candidates.

Mico University College Child Assessment and Research in Education (CARE) Centre

• High tolerance for ambiguity and high level of flexibility – some details of this project could change because of the uncertainties as Peace Corps and local partners resume volunteer operations
• Bachelors Degree in Education, or related field
• 1 year international experience in education, tutoring, literacy instruction
• 3 years work experience with and on behalf of children 5-12 years of age
• Experience in Occupational Therapy assessment
• Ability to conduct staff development training
• Good verbal and written communication skills.
• Experience in interacting with school personnel
• Experience in working with adults (training)