Volunteer Teaching in Jamaica

This project is perfect for anyone interested in getting practical classroom experience while also supporting teachers in a developing country. You’ll work with professional teachers who will guide you and then give you more responsibility as you gain confidence.

This volunteer opportunity will give you plenty of hands-on teaching work experience in Jamaica, which you can use to boost your CV. This is a great way to kick-start your career in teaching. You’ll also learn skills like planning and leadership, which you can apply to any career.

No experience? No problem! You’ll work with a local teacher in the classroom, and Projects Abroad staff are there to guide you. We also hold regular workshops for all our Teaching and Care volunteers to give you ideas and help you overcome any challenges.

If you’re interested in teaching other subjects, contact our Project Experts. They’ll advise you on what subjects you can teach in Jamaica, and whether you can teach those subjects part-time or full time.

This project runs throughout the year, and you can join at any time. Please note that to volunteer as a teacher in Jamaica, you need an intermediate level of English.

At the start of each day, you’ll eat breakfast with your Jamaican host family. Dressed smartly, you will travel to your teaching placement using a shared taxi. On your first day, we’ll show you the easiest way to get to your placement.

Depending on your placement, you will work for between 5 and 7 hours a day, Monday to Friday. You’ll have a lunch break.

As a sign of respect for your students and your placement, punctuality and professionalism are important. We also encourage you to observe or take part in the school’s morning devotion time, but it’s not required.

Depending on your schedule, you will then lesson plan with a supervising teacher or take part in classes. Extracurricular activities run as part of a set timetable, which you can discuss with your supervisor.

Class sizes vary in schools, and remedial classes have much smaller groups. A big part of your role will be to work with small groups in remedial classes that run parallel to regular classes. These classes focus on improving reading, writing, and comprehension skills. If you’re working with adults, you’ll have more independence with planning and running classes.

You can explore the beautiful island of Jamaica in your free time and at weekends.

The aim of this project is to support the education of Jamaican students, with a special focus on raising literacy levels.

In Jamaica, there is a high illiteracy rate, especially in rural areas. Classes are overcrowded, and teachers don’t have enough support in the classroom. There is also a gap between the quality of education in underprivileged communities, and slower-learning or disadvantaged children are often left behind.

We need your help to improve literacy in Jamaica. You’ll work with children, teenagers, or adults and give more people access to education.

We’ve identified three sustainable goals we hope to achieve with our Teaching Project in Jamaica:

• Increase English levels
• Improve classroom support
• Improve literacy levels

Help us achieve these goals by volunteering to teach in Jamaica.

You’ll work in a primary or secondary school. You can also volunteer in our community literacy programme for adults. You’ll get involved in work such as:

• Work with children, teenagers or adults during classes to improve literacy
• Work with teachers to prepare lessons with clear goals
• Assist teachers with extracurricular activities such as music, sport, French, German, and art
• Teach in a special needs school or teach sign language at a centre for deaf children