High School / Secondary School Biology Teacher or Youth Gardening Educator

About The Field School of Hvar

The Field School of Hvar is an independent enrichment program located in Jelsa, on the island of Hvar, Croatia. We bring together children ages 3 through 15 from around the world for a year-round academic program grounded in experiential learning, close reading, and deep engagement with literature, history, and the natural world. Small groups, meaningful work, and genuine community are at the heart of everything we do. Our curriculum is organized based on a chronological story of Western human development. In the fall of 2026, we will be centered in pre-history and Ancient Greece. In the sciences, our focus will be biology, ecology, and natural science.

About the Role

The Biology Guide will lead science tutorials for our two oldest groups: 12 children ages 11–12 (middle school) and 14 children ages 13–15 (secondary). You will meet with each group twice per week for three hours per session — four sessions per week in total. Sessions take place primarily in and around a community garden, with additional time for discussion, direct instruction, and lab work.

This is a part-time position that can be combined with Math or Language roles at the school. It suits someone who is as comfortable digging in a garden as they are leading a Socratic discussion, and who finds meaning in helping young people ask better questions about the living world.

Your classroom work is not just a school project - it feeds into the renewal and growth of regenerative agriculture on island Hvar. More information about that program is here: https://www.fieldschoolhvar.org/regenerative-agriculture

Biology Program

The Central Question

The animating question in biology across the school is: what is life? Students approach this as a factual and philosophical question— one that connects careful scientific observation to deeper questions about personhood and meaning in a post-AI world. Hvar itself — its landscape, its sea, its agricultural traditions — is treated as a living classroom in the spirit of Aristotle’s Lesbos, which sparked his theories of natural science, as the Galapagos inspired Darwin’s The Origin of Species.

Major Projects

In the fall (September 7 - November 28), they will try to come up with a composting system that meets the needs of our school garden. They will test different formulations of compost; work through the practical challenges of gathering and managing green waste from the olive and grape harvests as well as other sources; and research possible business models. This project will be the first step towards creating commercial-scale compost production on island Hvar. Local compost and other inputs are currently hard to obtain, representing a major obstacle to farmers and individuals gardeners who wish to produce food organically.

Curricula

Middle School (ages 11–12)

The middle school biology program uses Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (BFSU) as its primary curriculum framework. Students build conceptual understanding of living systems through direct observation, discussion, and hands-on practice, with the same garden and Field Store work providing the experiential core.

Secondary School (ages 13–15)

The secondary biology program uses excerpted and annotated texts from Aristotle’s natural science writings as its primary intellectual spine. Students develop first-principles thinking about anatomy, taxonomy, and the nature of living things — learning to observe and reason carefully before encountering modern frameworks.

Topics and activities across the year include:

• Close reading, discussion, and practica drawn from Aristotle — on the soul, on the parts of animals, on generation and corruption — in passages adapted for classroom use
• Plant dissection — careful observation and documentation of plant anatomy
• Fish dissection — conducted with a local fisherman, integrating traditional craft knowledge with biological observation
• Composting as sustained inquiry into life cycles, decomposition, and growth
• An introduction to current scientific paradigms in each study area

Session Structure

Each three-hour session weaves direct instruction and hands-on practice together rather than separating them:

• 30 minutes: Focused tutorial, introducing or extending a concept.
• 60 minutes: Critical Thinking — students work in groups to make observations, form questions, design hypotheses, and carry out experiments, as well as to design and validate operating models
• 60 minutes: Craft/Experiential — carrying out garden tasks, including digging, turning compost, trimming, creating raised beds, as well as other occasional projects involving food preservation or natural dyes and textiles
• 30 minutes: Student discussion — children describe observations, make predictions, and connect the concept to what they have seen in the garden or field.

Sessions may also draw on fermentation and food preservation, which children will be exploring in their math classes.

Schedule and Responsibilities

Teaching Days

The school day runs 9:00am–4:00pm, followed by a faculty hour from 4:00–5:00pm. During the faculty hour, teachers manage assessment documentation, communicate with the administrative team, and prepare materials for the following day.

On Fridays, you will help students prepare and present a brief summary of the week’s work for parents. This is a valued part of how we keep families connected to their children’s learning.

Non-Teaching Day

One day each week (equivalent to one day in five) is reserved for non-teaching work divided among three activities:

• Planning and administration — curriculum preparation, collaboration with other guides and specialist fellows, and coordination with the administrative team
• Workshop for local children — a free or low-cost offering for children from the Jelsa community who are enrolled in Croatian public school and cannot participate in the full program
• Workshop for community adults — open to Field School parents and local adults, connecting the school’s activities to a wider audience

Assessment and Documentation

There is no formal grading. Instead, you will be expected to:

• Conduct entry and exit assessments for internal planning
• Maintain ongoing observational notes on each student’s development
• Issue a brief weekly summary of work covered with each group
• Contribute to ongoing program assessment — what’s working, what needs adjustment

The administrative team manages parent communication, disciplinary matters, and family concerns. Teachers are not expected to interface with parents beyond the Friday presentations, community workshops, and everyday pleasantries. Our communication policies are described in detail in the staff handbook.

About You

We are looking for someone who brings several of the following:

• A strong command of biology and the natural sciences
• Experience or deep interest in outdoor, experiential, and garden-based education
• Intellectual curiosity about the history and philosophy of science
• Experience working with middle and high school-age students in a project- and discussion-based environment
• Warmth and adaptability within a small, close-knit school community, including genuine interest in engaging with the wider Hvar community

Other Details

• Fluency in English is required. Serbo-Croatian will be helpful in order to help manage community partnerships (e.g. waste from olive presses) and similar issues.
• This position can be combined with another part-time role in order to create a full-time position, if that is of interest.
• We are open to hiring on a permanent basis.
• Benefits: All benefits and protections in accordance with Croatian law
• Right to work: Candidates must have the legal right to work in the European Union
• For more information about our program, visit www.fieldschoolhvar.org

All benefits and protections in accordance with Croatian law.

Up to two full scholarships for children or close relatives.

English fluency is essential. Serbo-Croatian is helpful.