Lead teacher for innovative educational program

Do you love teaching but feel constrained by your current teaching role? Is your mind bursting with creative ideas for bringing learning to life but you lack the freedom to implement them? Is building close relationships and spending 1-on-1 time with students your greatest joy, but there’s never enough time for this? Do you feel there’s a worrying disconnect between what kids are learning and what they’ll need to succeed in our rapidly changing world? Have you always dreamed of running your own school but felt held back by the need to fundraise and the stress of getting it started? If you answered yes to any of these, this just might be your dream job. This is a teaching role unlike any you’ve ever encountered. You will have the freedom to create the pedagogy and curriculum of your dreams, you will have time to work 1-on-1 with a very small group of students, you will be given the resources you need to realize your vision, you will not be bogged down by administrative tasks, arbitrary standards or unnecessary testing and you will be generously compensated. If you are a passionate, creative, highly motivated and unusually talented teacher, we can’t wait to hear from you

What the role is

This role encompasses two responsibilities: (1) Lumos lead teacher and (2) private educator for the Chuard family. While we prefer a full-time teacher for both roles, we welcome applicants interested in either one.

1. Lumos Lead Teacher:To plan and lead the Lumos program (two 4-hour “project days” and one 3-hour nature day per week) for a group of 23 kids born between 2013 and 2018. During the Project Days the kids do collaborative, strategic thinking and improv games, work on hands-on team projects (e.g. designing your own business for the Lumos business fair or designing your own magical world) and engage in free play. We operate in ~6-week learning blocks with an overarching theme (e.g. Inventor’s studio, Cities of the Future) and kids work on an ongoing team project during this time which they present to the broader Lumos community at an expo-day. Project Days are highly creative and engaging and are designed to develop skills that are best learned alongside other children — such as collaboration, creative problem solving, leadership, public speaking, discussion skills and social-emotional skills. Nature Day takes place for 3-hours at a nature preserve in Küsnacht ZH. Here the children are given ample time for free play and exploration. They also work on nature-related projects and develop their observation, writing and reflection skills. You will work alongside another teacher to plan the curriculum for Lumos and to run the Lumos Project and Nature day.
2. Private educator: On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday mornings and every other Friday morning, you will be responsible for privately educating our oldest daughter (born 2014), our son (born 2016) and our youngest daughter (born 2018) in core subjects like math, reading, writing, science and social studies (possibly in collaboration with a second teacher or with contract teachers to teach specific subjects such as German or math, especially if you prefer to work less than 100% or if you have a subject area that you feel less qualified to teach). It is important to us that you adapt to the interests and speed of learning of our three children (for example, one child is quite advanced in math so you should teach to their ability level, not their grade level) and that you make learning come alive. Our three children love learning and it is important to us that we keep it this way by finding a teacher that is creative, child-centric, curious, adaptable and loves learning as much as our kids do.

   Responsibilities

   As Lumos Program Leader

   • Plan, lead and facilitate the Lumos Project Days (two 4-hour sessions per week) that are attended by 23 privately educated children and that optimize the development of skills that are best learned alongside other children and that are critical 21st century skills - like collaboration, problem solving, leadership, public speaking, discussion skills and social-emotional skills.
   • Plan, lead and facilitate the Lumos Nature Day (one 3-hour session per week in a nature preserve in Küsnacht ZH) that is attended by 14 privately educated children (a subset of our Team Day group) and that optimizes the development of social skills, teamwork, problem solving, risk-taking, writing/observation and nature appreciation, primarily via free play.
   • Work in collaboration with a second teacher to lead the Project Days and Nature Day, to develop the curriculum, and to liaise with families (it’s worth noting that the Lumos parents are almost as amazing as the Lumos kids — they are kind, engaged, appreciative and willing to roll up their sleeves to help when needed).
   • Help to coordinate Lumos events such as our annual Halloween and Christmas parties, Expo days and, possibly, an annual sleep-away camp for our group of Lumos kids.
   • Consume educational blogs, books, podcasts etc to stay on top of the latest ideas in education and to constantly challenge your thinking and be inspired.
   • Stay on top of the latest advances in educational technologies and AI to ensure that the children are getting access to the best available resources.
   • Be prepared to adjust your curriculum and pedagogical approach on a regular basis to account for student interests and feedback and for the rapidly changing nature of technology, work and society.

   As private educator

   • Guide our 3 children (a girl born 2014, a boy born 2016 & a girl born 2018) through core subjects like math, reading, writing, science, social studies and art. Our children are still in the process of learning German so many lessons, for example math, will need to be conducted in English but increasingly our children can be taught in German as well. Even once our children are fluent in German, however, we would like their education to continue to be bilingual, so you should be a strong German and English speaker, but if your English is not good enough to, for example, teach English literature and composition we can find ways to work around this. Equally, if your German is not strong enough to teach our children in German we can hire a German language specialist.
   • Taking inspiration from the best available learning resources (both online and offline) develop/curate a curriculum that is engaging, relevant, challenging, fun and tailored to each of our children’s needs/interests and speed of learning.
   • Develop a clear set of standards for each of our children, loosely based on the Lehrplan 21, but in a way that enables you to adjust to the interests and level of each of our children.
   • Document and evaluate our children’s progress against these standards (this should include some externally validated assessment tools).
   • Manage our “classroom” and ensure it is always well stocked with books, art supplies, and other inspiring materials.

   The ideal candidate

   • You were born to teach and people tell you you’re one of the best teachers they’ve ever encountered.
   • You adore children and they adore you
   • You make learning fun and engaging but you also believe that children should be challenged to do their very best. Children love you not because you make learning easy, but because you challenge them to reach their full potential.
   • You are a very hard worker for whom teaching is more than just a 9-5 job, it’s a calling. You will go above and beyond to make Lumos and our children’s education as top-notch as it possibly can be.
   • You have a very open-minded and creative approach to teaching that adapts to the needs and interests of the child.
   • You are constantly looking for ways to make learning come alive and to make it feel relevant and interesting.
   • You love designing creative curriculum and wish you had more freedom to do so.
   • You are very adaptable and able to change your plan on a dime if you see a child getting excited about a topic or losing interest.
   • You believe in giving kids a lot of choice in their learning and in empowering them to manage their own education.
   • You believe that developing skills like creativity, critical thinking, communication and emotional intelligence are at least as important as reading, writing and math.
   • You are capable of teaching children of different ages/abilities at the same time. If you don’t have direct experience teaching a child of a certain age, you are willing to put in the time to research and understand how best to teach them.
   • You are an excellent leader and team player.
   • You take pride in the learning of children and will go the extra mile to ensure a child’s needs are being met and that they are reaching their full potential.
   • You are highly tech-savvy and continuously seek out the most innovative and impactful EdTech and AI tools to enhance learning experiences.
   • You integrate AI into your daily life, using tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and/or Perplexity to create tailored, age-appropriate curriculum ideas for kids, embracing technology as an educational ally.
   • You believe in planning ahead and being well prepared for each lesson while also being ready to adjust on the fly to suit the interests and reactions of the kids.
   • You are intensely curious, highly intelligent and a life-long learner. You like to listen to education podcasts and read articles and books about education and child development not because you are told to, but because you care so much about being the best possible teacher that you can be.
   • Finally, you are warm, kind, open-minded, reliable, well-organized, hardworking, flexible, patient, optimistic, passionate, creative and a lot of fun

   Please note: This is a Zurich-based role but we are open to applications from all EU citizens (or spouses of EU citizens) so long as you are willing to relocate to Zurich. We will help you to secure working permits and will help with your relocation costs.

   Qualifications & Skills

   • Bachelor's degree or higher from a respected university
   • 5+ years teaching experience (and ideally more) is strongly preferred
   • Experience with and love of children
   • Demonstrated passion for teaching and keen interest in innovative education models
   • Previous non-traditional teaching experience is preferred. Montessori qualification or experience is a plus but not a requirement
   • Previous leadership experience is preferred
   • Must be driven and hardworking
   • Proficient with tech tools, including AI and EdTech tools.
   • You should be highly proficient in both German and English.
   • Having a teaching diploma that is recognized by the Canton of Zurich or The Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) is a plus, but not a requirement
   • Due to Swiss immigration restrictions you must be a Swiss and/or EU citizen or your spouse must be a Swiss and/or EU citizen.

   Compensation

   • Generous salary: Minimum CHF 120K+ (for a top-notch candidate we are willing to pay above your current salary)
   • Relocation assistance (if needed)
   • Generous vacation time (approximately 14 weeks of no school)

   Who we are
   We are a fun, flexible, kind, open-minded, secular Swiss-New Zealand family that’s providing our three children (born 2014, 2016 & 2018) with a unique educational journey that is part private teaching and part learning alongside other kids. For the past three years we privately educated our three children in California with the help of an amazing teacher and a small group of other families. After moving to Zurich in June 2024 we launched Lumos Kids - an innovative, bilingual (English & German) educational program for privately educated children that has two primary goals: 1) to provide these children with the opportunity to develop their collaboration, communication and critical thinking skills alongside other children and 2) to prepare them for our rapidly changing world. Lumos runs out of a beautiful home in Küsnacht and is attended by 23 kind, curious and super motivated children born between 2013 & 2018. On Tuesdays and Thursdays the children meet from 11.30-15.30 at the Lumos “school” house for Team Days where they work on collaborative hands-on projects and engage in discussions, critical thinking games, team building activities and free play. On Mondays from 13:00-16:00h the children meet at a local nature preserve for free play and team building. You can learn more about Lumos here. We have two amazing teachers running Lumos and helping to privately educate our children, but sadly one of our teachers will have to leave in July 2025 due to visa reasons. That is why we are looking for an incredible teacher to join our team next school year The Lumos founders have considerable experience in the world of education, especially innovative education. In 2020 they founded Prisma, an innovative school that has grown to become the most successful project-based learning school in the USA. They were inspired to create Prisma to address the gap they saw between the skills kids will need to thrive in the future and the way kids are currently taught in most schools today. They also believe that learning can and should be something that kids’ love doing, not something they grumble about. Lumos takes inspiration from Prisma and incorporates some of its key learning and curriculum ideas, while being a more intimate, personalized experience.