Help strengthen early childhood education in rural Timor Leste

Santa Maria School in Ainaro Parish, through Palms International Volunteering, is seeking a Kindergarten Teacher Mentor to support local teachers in delivering safe, inclusive, and developmentally appropriate learning experiences for young children. Your mentoring will help improve early literacy, strengthen teaching practice, and support long term education reform in the parish.

This role is ideal for someone passionate about early childhood development, play based learning, and community centred education.

What you’ll do

First several weeks – Learn, observe, and build trust

• Learn local language, cultural norms, and classroom context with support from a local mentor.
• Observe teaching practices and document strengths and community assets.
• Avoid recommending changes during this period; focus on understanding local approaches.

Ongoing responsibilities

• Coach teachers in child centred, play based pedagogy.
• Model effective teaching strategies and co plan lessons aligned with the national curriculum.
• Support teachers to assess children’s developmental progress using simple tools.
• Help teachers adapt curriculum content to local language and culture.
• Build reflective teaching practice through regular feedback and goal setting.
• Document outcomes, stories of change, and evidence of improved practice.

What you’ll bring

• Background in Early Childhood Education or primary education.
• Experience teaching in kindergarten or early primary levels.
• Understanding of play based learning and early literacy.
• Experience in low resource or multilingual classrooms.
• Ability to design simple, reusable learning materials.
• Strong mentoring, communication, and teamwork skills.
• Patience, adaptability, and cultural sensitivity.
• Commitment to serve for 12 months with limited resources.

What you’ll gain

• Deep cultural immersion in a rural Timorese community.
• The opportunity to strengthen early childhood education where it’s needed most.
• Professional experience in cross cultural mentoring and curriculum implementation.
• Contribution to SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality).

About Ainaro Parish Catholic School The Catholic schools—especially parish-run primary and secondary schools—provide access to education for children in remote villages where government schools are limited or under-resourced. The Parish School of Ainaro serves children from low-income and rural communities and offers scholarship.

About Palms International Volunteering For 65 years, Palms International Volunteering has supported skilled Australians to live and work alongside communities in the Asia-Pacific. Our volunteers don’t ‘fix’ problem - they build relationships, strengthen local capacity, and walk with communities striving for dignity and opportunity. These are ‘solidarity placements’. Accommodation and a small stipend is provided, as well as preparation and ongoing support.

The focus is on living as a true neighbour to learn, and to establish an effective mentoring role. This is the basis for lasting capacity building in the community. It is also a chance for you to step out of the rush and reconnect with what matters through a deep cultural immersion and genuine community relationships.