Chapter 4
LEARNING AND RELATED NEEDS
OF WOMEN IN ABE PROGRAMS

4.1. INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the information reported was obtained from providers and women students of ABE programs, about the learning and related needs of women in such programs.

For the purposes of this chapter, the term "providers", which is often used, is defined as:

• those who are directly involved in delivering ABE programs to under-educated individuals (e.g., instructors, counsellors);

• those who are directly involved in administering ABE programs (e.g., administrators, coordinators)

Occasionally in the text, providers are called respondents since they are the ones who responded to the questionnaire.

4.2. FINDINGS FROM STUDENT INTERVIEWS

Personal interviews were conducted with 30 women students of ABE programs in British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario. The following is a summary of the information provided by these women about themselves and their learning and related needs.

4.2.1. General Information

The data provided in Table 4-1 show that the majority of the women in the sample were white (n= 191, Canadian born (n= 25), married (n=16), under the age of thirty (n= 17), and had received their childhood education in urban areas (n= 18). The data presented in Chapter 2 show that most functionally illiterate women are over 34 years of age (87.1 percent) and that the rate of functional illiteracy is higher among rural women (27.0 percent) than urban women (21.4 percent).

The majority of the women (n= 19) attended programs on a full-time basis and 24 of the 28 had plans to continue their education. Fourteen of 29 women learned about the program from their informal information network of family and friends, and 13 from persons representative of a formal or institutional information network. The least utilized source of information about ABE programs for the women was advertisements whether written or oral.

Educational attainment among the women ranged from less than grade 5 to grade 12. Of the 25 women who answered questions on educational attainment, 8 reported they had completed grade 8, and 8 reported they had completed grade 9 or higher. The definition of functional illiteracy being used in this report is "less than grade 9 education" (see Chapter 1). One-third of the sample, therefore, could not be defined as under-educated and a further one-third is part of a borderline group.