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C. Educational barriers. France and Italy have used Paid
Skills Development Leave as a means of strengthening and reforming the existing
educational systems, and we encourage our policy makers to take this
opportunity for such progressive development in Canada.
The barriers for women for skills development which we have
identified in the educational field are:
| (i) |
Lack of catch-up programs. The great majority of Canadian
women are seriously |
|
handicapped in this technologically oriented
society because of their general lack of training in science and mathematics.
To quote from the Report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in
Canada |
|
Many more boys than girls are taking vocational courses
such as industrial and mechanical trades, construction trades [etc.]. Although
the percentages of girls and boys who enroll in the academic programs are
roughly equal, boys predominate in the study of mathematics and science and
girls tend to concentrate on social studies. 38
|
There are virtually no catch-up programs or "remedial" courses
for working women in these vital areas of knowledge, and women are therefore
excluded from many retraining schemes which demand science and math
backgrounds.
| (ii) |
Lack of up-dating programs. Women with some university
training find that their |
|
interrupted Careers, due to family
responsibilities, may result in loss of credit for courses taken because most
universities do not provide updating. That is, few universities recognize the
need for refresher courses for those who have been away from their field for
some years. |
| (iii) |
Lack of mature student provisions. Working or
life-experience is often not assessed in |
|
order to satisfy entrance requirements in many
community colleges or universities, or as credit towards professional
qualifications. |
| (iv) |
Lack of course articulation. Courses completed in some
colleges are often not |
|
recognized in others.
39 |
| (b) |
Lack of flexibility in times, location, and duration of
courses. Courses at community |
|
colleges and universities are geared to the
convenience of young people. As Jill McCalla Vickers and June Adams point out
in "But Can You Type?", |
|
Part time students with employment and family
responsibilities cannot easily be made to fit the system. Such things as exams
for night courses held during the day, the requirement that all students
physically attend registration when two letters and a cheque would suffice, and
the denial of day-care facilities to part time students are all examples of
this inflexibility. 40 |
| (vi) |
Limited subject matter. Courses available to part-time
students at both the community |
|
college and university level are extremely
limited. Virtually no professional training is available, and few senior
instructors are available to part-time students. |
| (vii) |
Length of courses. The extended duration of some training
programs makes them |
|
prohibitive to workers with a minimum of time.
|
|