Dean ’ s Message
Browsing through this edition of our Education News reminds me of the truism that change is one of the constants in education . Students graduate and new students arrive to take their place ; faculty and staff retire and are
Photo Credit : Rae Holtsbaum replaced with new hires . Individuals come and go but certain values remain . One of this Faculty ’ s values , consistent with the University ’ s strategic plan , is to serve and be in community . I was reminded of this when I received an email from a woman living in rural Saskatchewan who suggested that an online afterdegree program would allow her to pursue teacher qualifications while remaining in her own community .
While we don ’ t offer such a program for various reasons , I began to think about all the ways in which the Faculty of Education lives out its commitment to community . Our historic partnerships with Indigenous Teacher Education Programs , including NORTEP ( La Ronge ), SUNTEP ( Regina ), and YNTEP ( Yukon ), and the Indigenous Education Program at First Nations University have graduated thousands of First Nations and Métis teachers with University of Regina BEd degrees over the past 30 years . First Nations University is currently offering education courses in the
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Dené Community of Black Lake on the Saskatchewan NWT border , using both face-to-face and online courses . Our Faculty is in the fourth year of a partnership with Nunavut Arctic College , offering teacher education in Iqaluit and nine other regions across the Arctic .
As part of the general post-secondary mandate in this province to enable students to complete at least their first year of university education in their home community , our two first-year courses , ECS 100 and ECS 110 , are available online , with taped video streams from classes delivered in lectures in Regina and supported with online “ webinars ” led by experienced instructors .
Teacher preparation requires students to spend time in schools in their first year , in their third year , and again for a 4-month internship before graduating . Middle years students do their first pre-internship and PLACE experience in Band and provincial schools in the Fort Qu ’ Appelle area , and Arts Education students engage with schools in Melville to explore and build community . Internships occur across the province in small and large communities .
In Regina , our Faculty maintains partnerships with Campus for All , a community group dedicated to improving the lives of young adults with intellectual disabilities , and with Astonished !, another community group supporting young adults with complex physical disabilities . Our core studies course , ECS 200 , requires students to volunteer in
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