introduction

"Creating a Better Learning Environment" features articles which describe techniques or approaches you might want to use in your teaching. Three articles briefly describe various forms of safety audits. Your learners might want to do a safety audit as a group project. Safety audits allow women to gain more control over the space they use; they are a form of empowerment. Booklets published by METRAC (complete information is in the resource section) give the details on doing an audit.

The "Resources" section refers you to other materials, organizations and print and audio-visual resources. You might want to start with the two special issues of CCLOW's quarterly, Women's Education des femmes, that focused on the connections between violence and women's education. These issues are "Learning and Violence: Women Speak Out" (9:4, Summer 1992) and "Violence Prevention" (10:1, winter 1992/93).

We invite you to use any or all of these sections in your classroom, seminar, learning group, staff meeting or briefing session with funding agencies or governments. Use the material; ask students to rework it so it fits their specific situation. The more we become aware of the impact violence has on our education, the more we can do something about it. Knowledge is Power!

How we Produced this Kit
CCLOW established a national working group to oversee this project. Members of the group are: Bev Suderman, Calgary; Linda Shohet, Montreal; Paula Pasquali, Whitehorse; Wanita Koczka, Prince Albert; Sandra Campbell, Toronto; Anne Elliott, Saskatoon; Nayda Burton, Toronto; Aisla Thomson, Toronto. This group worked as a collective that oversaw the pilot workshops and nurtured the production of this kit. Funding from Health and Welfare Canada made the project possible.

Women across the country have contributed to this kit. We especially want to thank the many women who shared their stories with us, even if they were not able to share their names. We hope their courage will help educators understand how violence affects a women's education and ability to learn. Patricia Daughton and Nancy Reid created several of the graphics we used. Anne Elliott and Patricia Williams of Saskatoon have written, solicited and collected material, have worked with individual authors to refine the articles and have edited the kit.

For more information about CCLOW's women's education and violence initiatives, contact: CCLOW; 47 Main Street; Toronto, Ont, M4E 2V6. Phone 416-699-1909; fax 416-699-2145.