Education News | Page 37
1994 , when he was seconded to the Ministry of Education for a 4-year project in which he wrote the curriculum guides for Secondary French Immersion ( 10 , 20 , 30 , and Intégré A20 and B20 ). After this accomplishment , he went back to teaching , eventually returning to LeBoldus full-time and becoming department head in 2000 / 01 .
Three years later , Jean was seconded to the le Bac program . Teaching at the University of Regina was a big transition . Jean says , " In 2003 , school divisions were just starting to tighten their purses . The University felt rich by comparison . You could still print what you wanted to print . You were not counting your copies . Work was at another level , dealing more with adults . It was a welcome change . Same with the ministry , I was lucky . I ’ ve been lucky all my life . I worked hard ; the harder you work the luckier you get . But luck is also a factor ."
Still , as a secondment , Jean didn ' t know beyond his 2-year terms where he would be next . However , 2 years stretched into several years . As Jean says , " I ended up being lucky for 14 years . I also have my school division to thank for this . They allowed me to stay instead of recalling me , or asking me to resign ."
In 2017 , at the 30-year mark with the Regina Catholic School Division , Jean retired and was officially employed by the University of Regina . Two years later , he accepted the role of director of le Bac , where he finished out his career .
The director ' s role was challenging in many ways . " I wasn ' t expecting to become le Bac director ," says Jean . " The Faculty suggested that I should apply , so I did . What I learned is that it took a lot of me . The price was steep . I really enjoyed the classroom teaching and dealing with my students with le Bac . I was essentially the pre-internship year secondary person , so I was able to teach a few courses with the same students , and be involved in a capacity that I understood : my courses , my old curriculum guide , my resources , my students — that part I enjoyed . Being a director , especially during a pandemic , became very demanding . There are aspects of the job , though it is essentially a program chair , that make it more challenging : For example , we have to budget the Federal Government funding and create annual financial reports ." Added to the situation was the loss of several staff members in le Bac ( though since then le Bac has new staff members ).
Moving online through the pandemic created another set of challenges . " You teach French education in Saskatchewan in French , so the