Picture a Grade 8 class standing at whiteboards around the room, arguing over why the seedlings on the windowsill are leaning, before anyone has opened a textbook. Or a Grade 11 group designing a water-testing kit for a local community project. If that sounds like the science class you have always wanted to run, keep reading. At Verve College, learners do the thinking and the facilitator asks the questions that keep them going.
The role
This is a permanent post teaching Natural Sciences in the Senior Phase (Grade 7-9) and Life Sciences in the FET Phase (Grade 10-12), starting 1 January 2027. You will cover the full CAPS curriculum, with SACAI in Grade 10-12, through problem-based, hands-on learning, and connect science to our focus areas of Art, Business and Design. Every learner works on an iPad, and you will also mentor a group of learners, getting to know each of them well.
What you will do
- Open each lesson with a problem, phenomenon or question rather than notes on the board, and let learners work through it in groups at vertical whiteboards before you step in.
- Hold back from handing over answers, using good questions to keep learners in productive struggle until they reach understanding themselves.
- Cover the full Natural Sciences and Life Sciences CAPS content through investigations, practical work and projects linked to real life, other subjects and design, entrepreneurship and community challenges.
- Use iPads for learners to research, record experiments, create and present their thinking, never to fill in digital worksheets.
- Build regular reflection into lessons so learners think about what they learnt and how they learnt it.
- Mentor a group of learners: greet them at the door, know what is happening in their lives and contact parents early with good news as well as concerns.
- Attend Monday afternoon team talks and training prepared, take part in events, projects and duties, and meet deadlines for planning, marks and reports.
Who you are
- You would rather ask a question than give a lecture, and you are comfortable with a noisy room full of learners figuring things out.
- You correct behaviour calmly and privately, never shouting or shaming, and you repair the relationship afterwards. Care and consequences go together for you.
- You apply the school's rules the same way as everyone else, every time.
- You talk to people face to face. When something bothers you, you raise it one on one with the right person, not in the corridor or a group chat.
- Once the team has decided, you back the decision fully, even if you argued for something else.
- You try new methods, tools and systems with an open mind, give honest feedback on what works, and help fix what does not.
- You own your mistakes, apologise when you get it wrong and keep learning, and you put learners and parents first.
Requirements
- SACE registration, or eligibility to register
- A recognised teaching qualification (B.Ed or PGCE)
- A clear criminal record and Sexual Offences Register check
- A degree or major in Natural Sciences or Life Sciences
- Confidence using iPads and Apple tools
- Comfort with digital platforms and Google Workspace
Why Verve
Verve College is a young, growing, progressive independent school, Grade R to 12, with a focus on Art, Business and Design. Here you will teach science the way it is meant to be learnt: through questions, investigation and real problems, with learners at the centre. Things change as we grow, and our facilitators help shape what comes next. You will work in a team that talks honestly, supports each other and leads with kindness.
Applications close on 30 October 2026, and applying takes about 5 minutes online with your CV, a few questions and a 30-90 second introduction video.