End-of-Life Teachers in Saskatchewan

Mariève Émard has been teaching for four years in the City of Bridges. She loves her profession.

However, the Fransaskoise admits that several aspects of her work weigh on her task. The difficulty for his school to recruit francophone teachers is that the number of students in classrooms is too great.

In addition, the lack of educational resources available in French forces him to work overtime.

Mariève Émard teaches at Cardinal-Léger Immersion School in Saskatoon.

Photo: CBC

"If I receive, for example, government documents, sometimes. it's in French and English, but it's not always the case. (…) It means that you work extra hours and it comes back to your personal time, "notes the teacher.

Since Mariève Émard teaches several subjects at a time, she has to resort to consulting other books online or to order educational material accessible outside of Saskatchewan.

A communication consultant from the Greater Saskatoon Catholic School Division, Derrick Kunz, says this is a common situation for many teachers.

According to him, there is still a gap in this regard, because Saskatchewan remains a "predominantly English-speaking" province. "For 1,000 educational resources in English, there may be 100 in French," he says.

Nonetheless, Derrick Kunz says that French-language educational resources remain available to teachers within the school division.

The Saskatchewan Ministry of Education says its web page provides several lists of these educational resources "to support French immersion education".

Under the Canada-Saskatchewan Agreement on Minority Language Education and Second Official Language Education, the government states that "school divisions receive additional funding to support access to quality resources ".

Overworked teachers

In the run-up to the new school year, the government and the opposition each published the results of their own survey, which portrays the challenges facing the Saskatchewan education system.

On the provincial side, the survey reveals that teacher competence and the quality of the learning environment are the two main factors for improving education cited by students in the province.

On the other hand, the poll released by the NDP opposition mentions the fact that more and more teachers are victims of burnout. In fact, 41% of respondents admit to "rarely or never" enough support to meet the needs of their students.

Well, I know there are a lot of people going on "stress leave". I think it's a big problem in our profession.

In a report appended to the NDP poll, a member of the school staff makes a revelation, on condition of anonymity: "The teachers are exhausted as ever. All school staff, whether teachers, support staff, etc. (…) want to change careers or leave the province. "

Saskatchewan Education Minister Gordon Wyant says he regularly consults with teachers to learn about their issues.

Saskatchewan Education Minister Gordon Wyant says he wants to give teachers the floor to improve the school system.

Photo: CBC

It can not be solved in a day. You need a concrete plan.

The provincial education budget of $ 3.28 billion was up 0.6% from last year.