APPENDIX B. c.

BACKGROUND TO QUESTIONNAIRES

The National Training Act provides some good training opportunities for women but if women do not take them up it seems the opportunities will disappear. Without an aggressive affirmative action plan built into the Act, the extent to which women avail themselves of these opportunities often depends upon the attitude of the concerned departments.

One of the objectives of these interviews is to assess the will of each department. The questions are generally the same for each interviewee. Although the data should be the same, we hope the discussion arising from the questions might give us insight into the problem of policy vs. practice in the administration of the Act.

Question 1. - The breakdown by sex and training types is apparently more readily available than the age breakdown. What we want to know is what ages are the women going into various training programs.

Questions 2., 3., (1) - There is some indication that if women do not fill the training places reserved for them, then those places will return to the general pool of training places. Furthermore, there is a possibility that this lack of full enrollment might be taken to indicate lack of need on the part of women; this "proven" lack of need would then justify the reduction or elimination of reserved training places.

Questions 4., (2) - Please be familiar with First Things First, and be prepared to explain it briefly to the interviewee.

A short glossary of initials:

J.R.T. - Job Readiness Training - the goal upon graduation is getting a job - training includes coping and life skills.

B.T.S.D. - Basic Training & Skills Development - academic upgrading

A.B.E. - Adult Basic Education (an education term)

E.S.L. - English as a Second Language (also a non-C.E.I.C. term)

C.T.S.T. - Critical Trades Skills Training - It is important that there are women in C.T.S.T. programs because "critical trades" are those for which there is or shortly will be a great demand. This training is deemed high priority by government. (Priority allocations of training, however, are subject to those initial graduates getting jobs.)

G.I.T. - General Industrial Training is designed to be training provided by the employer, and is generally of shorter duration than C.T.S.T. It cannot be used for a low level (e.g., dishwasher) job, unless the trainee is a special needs client. (!)

Skills Growth Fund (S.G.F.) The National Training Act permits C.E.I.C. to enter into an agreement with a non-profit organization - set up to supply training for occupations of national importance or any occupation suitable for adults with special training needs - to provide that organization with financial assistance in establishing the required facilities and developing the necessary courses. The "financial assistance" for any of these training projects is to come from the Skills Growth Fund.

However, some groups of people may not be able to apply to the Skills Growth Fund because of their lack of resources to develop a fully articulated and documented application. Therefore, C.E.I.C. has made available funds - up to $50.000 per proposal- to aid groups in preparing project proposals for the Skills Growth Fund. These funds are known as Project Proposal Development Assistance.

The Minister of Education in each province has final approval of all S.G.F. projects in his/her province.

Follow-up letters should be sent after each interview. and should include the following:

1. a thank-you for the meeting
   
   
2. a hope that this meeting will be the beginning of a two-way relationship between C.C.L.O.W. and the interviewee
   
   
3. a list or summary of the main points made by the interviewed person
   
   
4. a reminder that C.C.L.O.W.'s report on the National Training Act's impact on women (with recommendations) will be available after October 15,1983, and you will keep her/him in touch with developments in this regard.