Middle School Project Adventure Teacher & Ropes Course Instructor

Job Description

Job Description

FLSA Status : Exempt

Reports to : Middle School Division Director

Salary Range : $50,000-$97,000 annually

Anticipated start date : August 2026

Location : All positions are in person

School Overview

Breck School is a preschool through twelve, coeducational college preparatory, Episcopal day school located in Golden Valley, Minnesota, with a national reputation for excellence and achievement in academics, athletics, and the arts. Our School’s Episcopal roots are lived through an unwavering commitment to equity, inclusion, and belonging where we respect the dignity of every human being. We prioritize lifelong learning and a commitment to the greater good.

We are a community of highly engaged and motivated students, faculty, staff, and school leaders focused on building trusting relationships and strong academic scholarship through a practice of bridging research to practice. Upon graduation, Breck students are prepared for a life of intellectual curiosity, self-knowledge, and social responsibility, matriculating to colleges and universities throughout the world.

Position Overview

Breck is seeking an innovative, student-centered educator to join our faculty as a Middle School Project Adventure Co-Teacher and Ropes Course Specialist. Operating within a dynamic, collaborative co-teaching model, this instructor partners closely with a fellow faculty member to deliver our adventure-based experiential education curriculum for students in grades 5-8.

This role pairs technical challenge course expertise with strong facilitation skills—knowing how to use sequenced group initiatives and reflective processing to foster character development, emotional resilience, and authentic leadership during a critical stage of adolescent growth. Utilizing our extensive indoor and outdoor facilities, the co-teaching team shares collective responsibility for student growth.

Crucially, this program is more than a high ropes course; for younger grades, the curriculum is rooted deeply in foundational, ground-based adventure programming. The successful candidate must possess the knowledge and instructional capacity to deliver foundational cooperative skills and field-based initiatives seamlessly before students transition to high elements. Because safety and pedagogical alignment are our highest priorities, the new hire will collaborate closely with their co-teacher to manage day-to-day operations, routine equipment inspections, annual third-party audit prep, and internal certification tracking.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Collaborative Co-Teaching & Experiential Instruction
  • Shared Facilitation: Partner fully with a co-teacher to manage group dynamics, balance instruction, and safely supervise middle school classes across various elements.
  • Curriculum Delivery: Co-design and execute age-appropriate ice-breakers, games, and initiatives, ensuring a deliberate sequence that moves from ground-level team building to low elements, and ultimately to high-element challenges as students develop trust and readiness.
  • Experiential Philosophy: Implement the Project Adventure framework, guiding students to discover their own internal resources by presenting them with collective problems rather than pre-determined solutions.
  • Inclusive Environment: Maintain a supportive environment honoring "Challenge by Choice" ensuring students participate at a meaningful personal level without being forced.
  • Spotting Oversight: Teach and enforce active, proper student spotting techniques to maintain a high standard of physical safety during ground and low-element activities.
• Ropes Course Management & Operations
  • Element Oversight: Set up, manage, and operate low elements, group initiatives, and high elements across both indoor and outdoor facilities.
  • Routine Inspections: Collaborate on standard pre-use safety checks of the course, gear, and hardware to ensure all elements are sound.
  • Safety Administration: Maintain necessary inspection logs, track internal certification timelines, and help prepare the courses for annual third-party compliance audits.
  • Equipment Care: Manage the safe setup, teardown, and secure storage of all challenge course gear and removable hardware.
• Annual Safety Inspection Prep & Compliance
  • Audit Preparation: Collaborate with the co-teacher and supervisor to prepare both the indoor and outdoor courses for the mandatory annual third-party safety inspection.
  • Compliance Standards: Help ensure all course setups, gear, and belay systems meet current industry and Association for Challenge Course Technology (ACCT) safety standards.
  • Records Management: Assist in maintaining accurate compliance files, inspection reports, and official safety certificates for the school’s permanent records.
  • Technical Safety Checks: Enforce standard safety protocols and verify all participant gear, harnesses, and belay systems prior to course use.
  • Staff Certification Tracking: Assist the coordinator in monitoring staff training timelines, credentials, and safety compliance records.

Education and/or Experience

• Education & Credentials: Bachelor’s degree in education, outdoor leadership, or a related field preferred. Must hold (or be able to imminently obtain) a challenge course certification from an accredited provider (such as Project Adventure, ABEE, or an equivalent ACCT-accredited organization). Breck is willing to fund recertifications and send you to annual Project Adventure/challenge course training.
• Experiential Teaching: Experience delivering structured experiential education, with a strong understanding of how to sequence activities across multiple grade levels.
• Co-Teaching & Collaboration: Demonstrated success working in a team-first environment, with a proven ability to share a classroom space and split instructional and safety duties equitably.
• Technical Background: Practical, hands-on experience with ground-based initiatives, challenge course hardware, knot tying, rope management, and standard belay mechanics.
• Middle School Alignment: Prior experience working with young adolescents, displaying a strong understanding of their developmental needs and emotional growth.