Secondary Education Science Educator at Peace Corps

Apply by

January 1, 2025

Know by

March 1, 2025

Depart on

August 30, 2025

Duration

2 years, plus 3 months training

Project description

Can you see yourself co-presenting a science lesson with your Kenyan counterpart teacher to a class of eager 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 will complement and support the Government of Kenya (GoK) efforts at the grassroots level through:

• Addressing secondary school teacher shortages in STEM subjects
• Supporting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) integration in the classroom
• Collaboratively promoting STEM education
• Co-developing STEM teaching and learning materials
• Promoting gender equity and inclusion in the classroom
• Supporting co-curricular activities including career guidance, HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, and life skills trainings
  
  

STEM Volunteers will work collaboratively with local counterparts in four focus areas:

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

Interested STEM Volunteers may be placed in 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 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 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, malaria, and gender equality work into their teaching and community development activities in a culturally effective and appropriate manner.

Corporal punishment is illegal in Kenya, but it is a long-entrenched norm. While schools agree in principle to stop the practice, these rules are not always followed or enforced. Volunteers may be challenged by encountering different forms of corporal punishment, particularly when it is necessary to develop good working relationships with colleagues in the classroom. Volunteers cannot intervene in this practice, but Peace Corps Kenya encourages open dialogue between Volunteers and their colleagues to explore culturally appropriate and acceptable alternatives to corporal punishment. Volunteers receive training and resources on how best to manage situations of corporal punishment in the classroom, and they are encouraged to model alternative and culturally appropriate disciplinary measures.

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

Required Skills

Competitive candidates will have one or more of the following criteria:

• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education with concentration in any science
• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in any discipline with secondary certification in science
• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in General Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, or Engineering
• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in any physical science or any biological science or equivalent
• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in any discipline with a minor or equivalent (15 semester/22 quarter hours) in Biology, Chemistry, or Physics
  
  

Desired Skills

The most successful candidates will have one or more of the following relevant qualifications:

• Prior teaching experience, preferably with secondary school students
• Experience teaching large classes (50+ students)
• Experience designing educational content
• Experience in school and/or community presentations with children, youth or adult learners
• Experience living and working with adolescents and youth who are Deaf
• Experience learning and communicating in sign language
• Experience teaching learners with special needs
• Experience with youth development, particularly life skills development, promotion of healthy lifestyles, camps, youth clubs, scouts, etc.
• Prior work with HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention
• Experience with graphic design, T.V. captioning, filming, editing or creativity in developing HIV/AIDS educational materials
  
  

Required Language Skills

There are no pre-requisite language requirements for this position. Kenya has two official languages: Kiswahili and English. Kenyan Sign Language (KSL) is the third National Language and is the language of instruction in schools for the Deaf. There are over 40 other local languages and dialects, with Luo and Luhya languages spoken predominantly in the Western region where Peace Corps Kenya is based. Volunteers speak English in the classroom, but not all Kenyans speak English in their daily lives, so Volunteers' community integration is greatly enhanced with the ability to hold basic conversations in Kiswahili or one of the local Kenyan languages used in the community.

During the 12 weeks of Pre-Service Training (PST), Peace Corps Trainees undergo a comprehensive language immersion program. Secondary Education Science Educators may learn Kiswahili or Kenyan Sign Language as their primary language. Trainees are tested three times during PST and at the end of 12 weeks they are required to reach the Intermediate-Mid level of Kiswahili or the Intermediate-High level of KSL. Once they have moved to their permanent host communities, Volunteers continue their language learning with a trained tutor identified and funded by Peace Corps Kenya. Volunteers who reach a high level of fluency may transition to a more specific local language used in their community.

Living conditions

Trainees live with Kenyan host families throughout Pre-Service Training (PST). After PST, Volunteers are placed in rural communities in Western Kenya. Housing is provided by the work partner and may be a private structure in a family compound, staff housing at the school, or a stand-alone house in the community. Structures vary from mud houses with metal roofs to concrete houses with glass windows. In their permanent host communities, Volunteers have private latrines and cooking and bathing areas. They may have to fetch and carry water from a local water source up to 100 meters from their home and may not have electricity.

Volunteers in Kenya live within three kilometers of their work sites and are placed no more than five hours by public transportation from the regional capital, Kisumu, where the Peace Corps office is located. Volunteers ride matatus (minivans) as a main mode of public transportation to and from the nearest county capital to access banks, a variety of shops, markets, restaurants, and guesthouses. Peace Corps Kenya provides an allowance for Volunteers who wish to purchase a bicycle.

Cell phone coverage is not consistent in all communities, and text messaging may be more reliable. Peace Corps will issue a Kenyan SIM card, and certain staff will be on call 24/7. Internet is available through cellphone service providers, and Volunteers are advised to bring a laptop to complete assignments such as monitoring, evaluating, and reporting activities.

Kenyans regard attention to dress and appearance as demonstrating respect, and Volunteers must take care to dress in a culturally appropriate manner 24/7. In training and on the job, Volunteers are expected to dress in modest, comfortable, business casual clothing.

Hair should be clean and neat, with beards and mustaches neatly trimmed. Long hair and ear piercings on men and tattoos and piercings beyond the earlobe on any Volunteer may have a cultural stigma and could impede a Volunteer from building trust with and integrating into their host community. Volunteers with visible facial or body piercings or tattoos will need strategies to conceal them during the process of integration into their communities.

Food availability and variety will vary by community within Kenya. The staple food is ugali, which is made from maize meal and is eaten with cooked vegetables, fish, meat, beans, or chicken, typically with the right hand. Vegetarians and vegans can maintain a healthy diet, but vegetarianism is relatively uncommon and many prepared foods are made with animal products.

LGBTQIA+ Volunteers have served successfully in Kenya, but safe and successful service requires a clear understanding of the dynamic LGBTQIA+ cultural, political, and social context. The U.S. State Department provides guidance to LGBTQIA+ travelers to Kenya at the following link, under the “Local Laws and Special Circumstances” drop-down menu: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Kenya.html

For safety and security reasons, LGBTQIA+ Volunteers in Kenya are advised not to disclose this aspect of their identity. All Volunteers are asked to refrain from discussing the topic of LGBTQIA+ rights with community members, given the risks of being suspected of being part of or supporting the LGBTQIA+ community. Due to these restrictive laws, same-sex couples are not currently eligible to serve together in Kenya.

While all Peace Corps staff have received training in ICDEIA, certain staff in Kenya have “Safe Space” identification on their office doors and are able to provide more direct support to LGBTQIA+ Trainees and Volunteers.

Learn more about the Volunteer experience in Kenya: Get detailed information on culture, communications, housing, and health/crime statistics in order to make a well-informed decision about serving.

Medical considerations

Before you apply, please review medical clearance and legal clearance to learn about the process.

Couples information

Peace Corps Kenya Welcomes Couples Serving Together During Service. For Any Couple To Be Considered, Both Partners Must Qualify For And Be Invited To Any Of The Following Projects

• Public Health Facilitator
• Secondary Education Math Educator
• Secondary Education Science Educator
• Deaf Educator
  
  

Volunteers in the Health and Education sectors undergo different technical training programs, and during Pre-Service Training (PST) they live in different training villages around the main training site. Couples who serve in different sectors should note that they may not be living in the same villages during the 12 weeks of PST, and that their additional compulsory trainings such as In-Service Training may be held at different times. Couples serving in the same sector will live with the same host family during PST. After PST, all couples will live together in their communities while working at different host organizations.

Due to Kenyans' expectation that whenever a man and woman live together they are by default married, unmarried couples should be prepared to present themselves as married throughout their service. Due to the country’s restrictive laws regarding the LGBTQIA+ community, same-sex couples cannot serve in Kenya at this time.

The Peace Corps works to foster safe and productive assignments for same-sex couples and same-sex couples are not placed in countries where homosexual acts are criminalized. Because of this, same-sex couple placements are more limited than heterosexual couple placements. During the application process Recruiters and Placement Officers work closely with same-sex couple applicants to understand current placement opportunities. For more information please visit: https://www.peacecorps.gov/faqs/lgbtq/.