High School Science Educator

About the project

Can you see yourself presenting a science lesson to a class of eager young Kenyan students, or sipping chai (tea) with a group of colleagues as you share lesson plans in the teachers' room? Can you envision walking to the local market to buy beans, corn, and peanuts to make “nyoyo” and meeting a group of girls from the IT club you support who shout greetings to you in Kiswahili? If the answer is yes, Peace Corps seeks applicants like you who have the passion, flexibility, and resiliency to support Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education initiatives in Kenya.

Peace Corps Volunteers’ work complements and supports the efforts of the Government of Kenya at the grassroots level through:

• Addressing secondary school teacher shortages in science subjects
• Supporting Information and Communication Technology integration in the classroom
• Collaboratively promoting STEM education
• Co-developing STEM teaching and learning materials
• Promoting creativity, innovation, and practical application of STEM concepts in real life situations
• Supporting co-curricular activities including career guidance, HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, and life skills trainings

High School Science Educator Volunteers work collaboratively with Kenyan counterparts in four focus areas:

1. Building teacher capacity through formal and informal Communities of Practice
2. Increasing student skills and performance in STEM through direct classroom teaching
3. Promoting increased community involvement to support school activities
4. Co-developing materials and increasing access to materials/resources to support a STEM approach to math and science

Volunteers teach in high schools and may also be asked to support junior high schools within their communities as an additional responsibility. Kenyan high school students range in age from 13-18 while those in junior high schools range from ages 10-13. Volunteers with interest and/or experience in special needs education may opt to be placed in secondary schools for the Deaf, in which case they would be trained to teach science using Kenyan Sign Language (KSL).

As with all Peace Corps programs, flexibility and a positive attitude are important for this project. Volunteers may be asked by their Kenyan counterparts to provide instruction on a variety of subjects aside from the one they have been invited to teach. Volunteers will teach and/or co-teach in the classroom and support activities to collaboratively build capacity with their counterparts and teachers. To engage the broader community, Volunteers and their counterparts might organize math and science competitions, camps, clubs, and school enhancement projects. Along with classroom teaching, many Volunteers get involved supporting sports teams, youth conferences, school gardens, and other extracurricular activities. STEM Volunteers also work with counterparts to integrate HIV/AIDS and malaria work into their teaching and community development activities in a culturally effective and appropriate manner.

Peace Corps Kenya partners with community counterparts to promote boys’ and girls’ education and empowerment and promote healthy social norms around education. Volunteers are trained on social norms and realities in Kenya and together with their Kenyan counterparts they have the opportunity to co-implement activities that are contextually and culturally appropriate, promoting social norms and co-facilitating empowerment programs to support both girls and boys in exploring a new paradigm together.

Learn more about what Volunteers do in country by visiting our Kenya project page.