TG7060: Summer Governess for Mediterranean Sailing Trip | May–Sep 2027 in Spain, France, Italy, Greece & Turkey

Early Years Educator for Mediterranean Sailing Expedition (5-Year-Old Boy) - TG7060

Fixed-term live-aboard, May–September 2027 · Start 1 May 2027

*EU/EEA Passport Essential*

EED is delighted to be representing a private family from Singapore, seeking an experienced, highly qualified Early Years Educator to join them for the first leg of a round-the-world expedition—a slow sail through the Mediterranean from May to September 2027—providing education, exploration, and daily structure for their son, turning 5 in May 2027.

This is a live-aboard position on a private sailing yacht, working alongside a professional captain and the family’s Mandarin nanny. The role is to turn each port, ruin, market, and rockpool into a learning environment while keeping phonics, numeracy, and early French moving forward day to day.

The itinerary runs Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Turkey, with a generally flexible, weather-dependent schedule and shore time built in. Home life for the family is formal and professional; this trip is deliberately more casual, and candidates should be comfortable adjusting register accordingly. The parents will cook during the trip, so no cooking duties are required, though the child’s own strong interest in food is something to build into activities.

Duties sit clearly on the education and activity-planning side, with day-to-day personal care sitting with the family’s Mandarin nanny—a clear division of responsibilities will be agreed upon before departure given how closely the two roles work together aboard a small boat.

Key Responsibilities

• Delivering structured phonics, numeracy and early French appropriate for a child entering primary school within the year
• Turning each port, ruin, market and rockpool into an engaging learning environment
• Planning and delivering activities in unfamiliar destinations, often with limited notice
• Weaving history, museums, marine life, nature and the outdoors into daily learning
• Building on the child’s strong interest in food through educational activities
• Working collaboratively with the Mandarin nanny (who leads day-to-day personal care) and the Captain
• Providing regular progress updates to the parents
• Reading and respecting the child’s pace, particularly given his reserved nature

Candidate Requirements

• EU/EEA passport (French, Irish, or other EU nationality, including dual citizenship) — essential and non-negotiable. UK-only passport holders are limited to 90 days in any rolling 180-day Schengen period, which this itinerary cannot accommodate
• Qualified teacher: EYFS or Primary (QTS/PGCE or equivalent), or the French equivalent (e.g. Professeur des écoles, CAP Petite Enfance with strong early-years training)
• Demonstrable Reggio Emilia experience or training
• Strong phonics and numeracy teaching background
• Fluent, native-level English with some knowledge of French
• Comfortable living aboard a small sailing yacht for months at a time—seasickness-resilient and unfazed by close quarters and a changeable schedule
• Strong, confident swimmer
• Current First Aid certification
• Full, clean driving licence
• Genuine enthusiasm for history, museums, marine life, nature and the outdoors
• Independent and self-directing — able to plan and deliver engaging activities in an unfamiliar destination with no notice
• Warm and patient, able to read and respect a reserved child’s pace rather than push for instant rapport
• Excellent, checkable references essential
• Forest School certification strongly preferred
• Montessori training or exposure, alongside the Reggio Emilia background, strongly preferred
• Active, energetic disposition preferred
• Prior expedition, boat or sailing experience useful but not essential; comfort at sea and a fast willingness to learn essential

The Offer