Access and barriers: the question from two sides

The factors that affect access to learning can be considered from two different sides, depending on one's viewpoint. Lack of access can be regarded as a barrier that is a result of a fault in the system, or as problem that is due to a deficit in the learner.

How the same issue is regarded affects notions of responsibility about how it should be addressed: it can be regarded as the system's responsibility to fix the fault that presents the barrier, or as the learner's responsibility to overcome the deficit that makes learning inaccessible.

For example, post secondary institutions have fairly recently established policies and advocacy offices for learners with disabilities. Previously, it was often regarded as the learners' responsibility to find ways of getting around a campus in a wheelchair, despite barriers presented by stairs, heavy doors, inaccessible washrooms and so on. Now, it is an institutional responsibility to provide accessibility and to change structures that present barriers to people in wheelchairs. This is an example of two relatively recent changes: an expanded general concept of what is meant by accessibility, and a shift in responsibility to the institution for providing access by removing barriers to the learner.

Greater awareness of the "two-sidedness" of access can make it easier to recognize strategies to reduce expectations around access and/or shift more responsibility for access to learners. For example, if learners must have Internet access to contact their instructor, when they could previously telephone a 1-800 number, this shifts more responsibility for access to the learner. Learners without Internet access would see this as an institutional barrier, but the institution may see it as a challenge the learner must address.

Factors affecting access for women

Women's access to learning is constrained by limited time availability, due to family and work commitments, and in many cases, by social expectations and limited finances. For many, distance from educational providers and lack of local availability of appropriate programs are barriers, because women typically are less able to move to or travel to locations where programs are available. Limitations in previous education can also present challenges, notably in language, math and science.

In many cases, the job market rationale for education traditionally supported differential expectations of access to education for women, whose education would be "wasted" if they opted to raise a family instead of joining the workforce. We probably all know families that invested heavily in their sons' education and encouraged their daughters to finish their formal studies quickly, preferably acquiring useful skills, like typing, or training in nursing or education, so they would have "something to fall back on" in the event that marriage did not provide lifetime economic security.

In addition to these women seeking a "second chance" at learning, there are others who want to pursue further qualifications and/or obtain job related skills: and those who regard non formal learning as a lifeline when dealing with personal, social and community issues. For all of them, access is an important consideration.

Women's access to learning through part time and flexible programs

Many women accommodate learning with the other demands of their lives by taking advantage of the more flexible arrangements offered by part time, open and distance education. For example, Statistics Canada reports that at the university level, almost 200,000 women were attending university part time in 1992-93, accounting for 63% of part time undergraduates. Moreover, 60% of women students aged 25 to 29 were part time learners, and 87% of women students aged 40 to 44 studied part time.⁷ As well, women account for between 60 and 70% of the 400,000 distance learners in Canada.

At present, it does not appear that the new technologies play a major role in providing access for distance learners. In 1994, only 19% of the 400,000 distance learners were using an information technology-based medium, such as teleconferencing, the Internet, or multi-media, which means the majority were using print, video and audio materials and telephone communication.⁸

Women's high usage of part time and flexible learning demonstrates that many women clearly need this flexibility of time and/or place for learning. Many educational providers that offer these flexible arrangements are now exploring the use of new learning technologies, and, in some cases, there is special funding for their use in pilot projects, while there are cuts to funding elsewhere. This raises the possibility that the use of new learning technologies, because of limited availability, high cost, or displacement of more flexible programs, could in fact reduce access to learning for a significant proportion of those who are most dependent on part time and flexible programs, particularly women.