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Outcomes of Open Space
Technology
Saturday
Discussions
The procedure used for Saturday and Sunday of the
congress was Open Space Technology in which, rather than having pre-set
workshops, participants are asked to identify topics for discussion. There is
no limit to the number of topics that can be named and once ideas are
exhausted, participants break off into discussion groups of their choice. The
purpose of using this process was to determine important issues in women's
education and training (specifically, to tease out any hitherto overlooked
areas) and to determine possible future directions for a national body
addressing women's learning and education. What is documented here is the
complete list of identified topics and, under those that were discussed, the
most salient points and concrete recommendations.
List of Topics
- Recognition and acceptance of "outside of Canada"
credentials by educational institutions, provinces and professional bodies.
- How women have been subordinated in the process of their
learning and how it can be different.
- Networking, bodily and digitally.
- How do we sustain older women's education well into their
80s?
- CCLOW/NWRG: where do we go from here?
- The role of emotional and spiritual growth in learning,
education and training.
- Diversity in education: rethinking and rewriting history and
curriculum.
- How to incorporate the needs of students and other
"grassroots" into the emerging organization; funding, information, choices,
action.
- Immigrant women's literacy: holistic learning, job training,
a safe place to learn.
- Using existing resources creatively rather than creating a
new organization.
- Starting from scratch: where are the resource connections to
create women's literacy centres in non-urban communities?
- Basic education (education that is meaningful) for disabled
persons.
- Literacy and health: develop and distribute resources, raise
awareness of issues, create partnerships.
- Addressing the labour market needs of women.
- Working with issues related to trauma and learning.
- Creating a pro-active strategy for connecting to corporate
and other community development resources.
- Delivery of services to rural women.
- How does the family literacy model support women's learning?
- Creating a pro-active labour market policy, rather than
analyzing outcomes of the past.
Topic Discussions
Discussion groups were created for fifteen of the above nineteen
topics. Following are the most salient points and concrete recommendations from
these discussions.
Recognition and acceptance of
credentials obtained outside of Canada
Recommendation
Support or collaborate in the work being done by women's groups to achieve
this goal, such as INTERCEDE and the Philippino Women's Centre, by sharing
CCLOW/NWRG expertise in research, public education and advocacy.
Networking, bodily and
digitally
In our current information age, people exist along
a continuum of communication, from oral to face to face to telephone to digital
networking. The gaps exist along generational lines but also geographically,
educationally and economically. Tensions develop across these gaps, including
among groups in the current women's movement, between those who have and make
use of digital networking and those who do not. Many many women still do not
have their own computers, access to facilities such as email, or literacy in
the computer medium.
Recommendation
To bridge the digital divide by
forging alliances and digital partnerships with like-minded organizations (such
as ACTEW) to work together on projects and policies, develop digital resources
bases and to incorporate local projects and face-to-face events on a
pan-organizational bulletin board.
Meaningful education for people with
disabilities
The needs of people with disabilities are often
overlooked, not incorporated into a program, learning situation or community
event, or are inadequately provided for. As well, the diverse and dissimilar
needs of people with disabilities are often lumped into one category of
"disability". Women with disabilities are often not even seen as women but as a
kind of third gender. This conference is an example; the session originally
planned on women with disabilities was cancelled for lack of registration.
Recommendation
That the importance of issues for
women with disabilities not be based solely on interest expressed; that
organizations with resources, connections and experience utilize these
advantages to advance the rights of women with disabilities.
Secure funding to carry out a literature search and review of
studies addressing the needs and situations of women with disabilities to use
as an educational and advocacy tool. |