Recommendation:
Professional education and development

Those involved in professional education and development, both as instructors and as students, must include reflection and analysis of current adult literacy program administration, teaching, and counselling practices from the perspectives of the different women who participate as students, volunteers, practitioners, administrators, and board members.

We must also consider current practices from the perspective of the women who, for whatever reasons, are not participating in programs.

We must promote both individual and group reflection as a professional development tool. In doing so, we must emphasize that most practitioners do not currently have the time, resources, or opportunity to become involved in the kinds of reflection that leads to effective personal, professional, political, or structural change. Given the experience of the women who participated in this action research, resources that will facilitate practitioners' reflection must be made a priority both by programs and by those who fund research and professional development.

Train-the-trainer programs for those who work in family literacy, workplace, Native, and employability enhancement programs already exist. We must ensure that these programs include the perspective of the women who both participate and are blocked from participating.

The inclusion of woman-positive perspectives may be especially appropriate for training family literacy workers since many of these programs have not been sufficiently critical of the underlying premises that led to their formation.

We must advocate for and allocate resources to train-the-trainer programs for those who work primarily with women and for those whose programs are not adequately serving women.

Recommendation:
Coalition building

We must recognize that adult literacy practitioners usually work in isolation and that their professional and political experiences are often fragmented. Those interested in women's experiences need to meet with others who both share and challenge their perspective. A particular effort must be made by organizations and coalitions to involve students in their advocacy work, to educate decision makers about the realities of different women's lives, and to lobby for change.