We teach so we may learn
As a volunteer teacher abroad, the focus of your workday could be on delivering lessons that align with a formalised curriculum, or you could be responsible for more informal activities, such as running extracurricular activities both in and out of the classroom.
You could work with kindergarteners on early childhood education programs or with adults on human empowerment projects, such as assisting girls and women entrepreneurs to help improve their access to business opportunities.
Your volunteer teaching could be rooted in developing English literacy, numeracy, sport or art. You could assist with community development programs geared towards public health support, conservation and climate action.
Your teaching abroad options with GVI are wide. For example, you can:
Browse all our volunteer teaching opportunities.
Working with children
GVI’s programs are designed within a framework of strict protocol and ethics when it comes to working with children and vulnerable adults, and our Child and Vulnerable Adult Protection Policy is implemented on each program.
Before conducting any practical volunteer teaching, our participants are trained to follow safety and protection guidelines. We hold ourselves accountable to our students, participants and partners to ensure GVI’s volunteer teachers can make educated and confident decisions while teaching.
As part of the Child and Vulnerable Adult Protection Policy, participants will be required to complete a DPS check, police clearance or a National Background Check where necessary, and to comply with the policy.
Our impact
GVI’s volunteers play a vital part in the success and long-term sustainability of our teaching projects. With the support of our volunteers, GVI and our partner organisations are able to provide these children with a safe environment and the support, supervision, socialisation and education in a range of subjects including English, maths, art and sport.
Our stance on orphanage volunteering
In all our work, we are guided by the research and ethos of our local partner networks, international frameworks informing the ethics of social development work, and the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
In this context, GVI does not work with any residential care institutions and is not involved in any orphanage volunteering programs.
Rather, our focus is on family reunification and foster care models, and we partner with organisations who share this perspective. Our volunteer teaching programs that focus on early childhood development are typically offered in kindergartens, schools or community centres through our project partners.
For more about GVI’s stand on orphanage volunteering programs click here.