Fiji has over 700 primary schools and 150 secondary schools spread across both the public and private sectors. Most expats send their children to private schools, with the majority selecting the international schools located in either Sigatoka or Nadi. Public schools in Fiji are open to expat enrolment but are rarely used due to somewhat erratic educational standards. Furthermore, parents are often reluctant to send students to these schools as they find the curriculum one-sided and children who regularly move in and out of school systems may find the experience limited. While public schools are theoretically mixed-race, socio-economic issues and the geographic distribution of ethnic groups mean that, in practice, the schools often comprise a single race. In many villages, there will be a small school with teachers doing their best to serve the students spread across a variety of educational levels.

Fiji is a country in much need of external help, especially with its young population. You will experience life in both the rural and urban areas, which is quite different from the average journey followed by a tourist. Most locals on Fiji can’t afford to travel and in the villages there is little chance of contact with the outside world. Your teaching will enable students to form relationships with someone from another culture and the teachers can learn different teaching methods and techniques. You will mainly assist the regular school teacher, so you do not need to have any teaching background.

The children in Fiji are in desperate need of two types of teachers, those with experience and those without, we have found both can make a very significant and worthwhile contribution. The experienced teacher will find the freedom to be creative and design their own lesson plans, a refreshing change for some of our more mature participants, who tell us it takes them back to the “good old days”. Those with less or no experience will have whatever support and guidance is needed from our Teaching Centre, a relaxed environment matching the Fijian way of doing things, but with up to date teaching methods from experienced teachers. You have to love children and understand their behavior, as you will be surrounded with loads of them every day and their friendliness can sometimes become over exuberant, but they are children after all.