Bringing French flair
Originally from France, Jocelyne Edwards enjoys the multicultural vibe at Lycée Louis Pasteur
Jocelyne Edwards is head of school at Lycée Louis Pasteur, a private non-denominational international French school in Calgary with an academic focus for students from preschool to Grade 12.
“I’m very proud of my school. I’m proud of the fact they are really bilingual,” Edwards says.
Lycée Louis Pasteur is a member of the Agency for French Education Abroad, a network of 495 schools around the world.
In addition to its regular program, Lycée Louis Pasteur offers a French language immersion program for students in grades 1 to 5 who don’t speak French. After four to six months, these students are integrated into regular classes at the Lycée.
Born in the town of Niort in western France, Edwards attended high school in nearby Fontenay-le-Comte. She studied at the University of Strasbourg and holds the equivalent of a bachelor of education degree and a bachelor of arts degree in German.
Edwards taught German before becoming vice-principal at a junior high school, and then vice-principal at a vocational school in France. She moved to Calgary in 2015 to be head of school at Lycée Louis Pasteur.
Edwards and her husband have four children.
Q. How would your best friend describe you?
A. Faithful, with a lot of empathy, and funny. I have this French sense of humour that only French people would find funny.
Q. What would your students or staff be surprised to learn you like to do in your personal time or on a day off?
A. I like to sing — I used to sing in a choir. And I like to play board games and games on my iPad.
Q. What three things could you not live without?
A. My husband and my children, for sure; books — I can’t live without books; and my iPad — I can’t live without my iPad.
Q. What was your first job?
A. I was an executive assistant in Germany, in the IT industry. Q. Who was the most influential teacher you had as a student, or the most influential teacher you have worked with?
A. My high school Latin and philosophy teachers. They were both very charismatic. They gave us their vision of the world, and they were very open-minded. My philosophy teacher made us see the things differently. He talked a lot about the world and the differences in it, and about religion — how to accept religion — and how to accept people who do not have any religion. My Latin teacher was the same. He taught us a dead language, and he made it so alive.
Q. What most excites you about being a principal and the school you work at?
A. My students are amazing. I love the students, and the multicultural aspect of this school. We have nearly 40 different nationalities coming from all over the world. Students are used to moving all over the world and going to different schools.
Q. What does your school have bragging rights to?
A. Our French. We teach two curricula: the Alberta curriculum and the French curriculum. It’s a very demanding program. Our teachers come from France — they have a beautiful French. We belong to a network — Agence pour l’enseignement français à l’étranger (AEFE); it makes us different. We can have exchanges with other AEFE schools all over the world. They all have the same curriculum. It’s amazing to belong to this fantastic network.
All of the schools have the same philosophy, the same way to teach, and they are all multicultural with people from all over the world. The students are open-minded — they are really global citizens.