The People We Hire

At The Traveling School, we hire people who make good decisions. We hire individuals who are trustworthy, have a strong sense of integrity, and demonstrate good judgment. In addition to good decision-making abilities, we hire people with a solid blend of various qualifications. We want to know your strengths and interests. Not every candidate is an expert in every category; instead, we seek to hire a balanced staff for each program with a variety of strengths. This blend of expertise provides our students with a wide range of expertise and backgrounds from our staff. We also seek individuals who are in love with the outdoors, the world, and teaching – the rest grows from there.

The Traveling School is an Equal Opportunity Employer and we seek to employ and promote the best-qualified employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, creed, color, sex, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age or disability.

 

Philosophy:

The staff at The Traveling School works here because we believe in what we do. Although we have long hours, sometimes stressful working conditions, and spend months away from home – we work here because we love it. We are inspired by the other teachers, energized by the students and motivated by the opportunities to grow and learn – and help others do the same. We are committed to helping students achieve their dreams.

 

Academic teaching:

We hire teachers and administrators that are qualified teachers, possessing valid teaching certificates. We also hire exceptional teachers who are eligible for certification with minimum course work, or teachers who possess an equivalent of combined teaching experience, applied work experience and college degree. Our efforts are aimed at creating an ethnically and culturally diverse staff, choosing qualified applicants from America and incorporating teachers and volunteers from local regions while we are overseas.

The Traveling School adheres to the Montana Office of Public Instruction Content Standards for all courses. Teachers should be familiar with the standards for all subjects and are responsible for ensuring that these standards are taught and surpassed. Teachers with The Traveling School are in a unique situation to help develop their own positive attitudes toward academics and continue to build upon their own specialized field's content knowledge.

 

Outdoor Skills Development:

Individuals interested in joining the school's instructional staff usually possess a full resume of experience leading wilderness and international expeditions for programs with similar missions to The Traveling School. The development of outdoor skills plays an integral role for students to achieve their goals of building self-esteem, increasing tolerance, creating cultural awareness, and encouraging academic exploration.

Because of the wide-range of outdoor skills development that we offer, we need for our instructors to be equally experienced in teaching a wide-range of skills. We hire instructors with an assortment of the following skills: backcountry navigation, lead climbing, mountaineering, mountain biking, long-distance trekking and assorted wilderness skills. Applicants must value and understand the variables of remote outdoor environments. Applicants should be able to teach and implement minimum impact environmental philosophy and practices. Most importantly, we look for the most important skills – judgment, decision-making abilities and, the capacity to make reliable, safe decisions under challenging circumstances.

 

International Travel:

Faculty and staff of The Traveling School are experienced and qualified educators, travelers, and outdoors-people. Our field instructors have extensive travel experience. Instructors with experience living and working in specific countries receive preference for those semesters where we will be in the same country (i.e. former Peace Corps volunteers, teachers for overseas organizations, etc.). Applicants with prior experience leading or participating in international group programs are preferred. Proficiency in foreign languages is also desirable.

 

Leadership:

We look for leadership experience with school, community and outdoor organizations, in education and in public service. Most importantly, we look for leadership qualities of character, compassion, dedication and skill. Instructors here are inspired about working with students, and are skilled at finding ways to teach and demonstrate effective leadership.

 

Physical and Emotional Stamina:

Applicants must be sufficiently fit to participate in all semester activities and maintain sufficient energy, strength, and concentration to assist students with physical and emotional obstacles. The Traveling School's activities may challenge instructors with hiking 18-miles in a day, carrying backpacks in excess of 50 pounds, traveling all-day and into the night, working with sometimes-uncooperative students, facing cultural challenges, and being separated from friends and family.

 

Time responsibility:

The major challenge for our instructors is to find enough time to fulfill our responsibilities to the students, to our colleagues, and to the group in general. This is an intensive semester. All instructors meet in the departure city before each semester. Programs run approximately from Sept. 1 – Dec. 15 and Feb. 1 – May 15. Orientation takes place several days before departure.