4.3.5 A Special Role for Voluntary Organizations

Our recommendation, based on the results of our research, has been that the voluntary sector and colleges should lobby actively for a public/voluntary - private sector division of responsibility with respect to training. While the private sector can and does provide job-specific technical training over relatively short periods of time, the public- voluntary sector should focus on more 'generic' approaches that have the long-term needs of the trainee as their focus.

Unfortunately, the reality is that voluntary sponsors of training are chronically under-resourced and are usually hard-put to run their own programs. The time and energy required for lobbying is simply not available. There is an important role for CCLOW to play in advocating on behalf of those groups which do not have sufficient resources to do their own lobbying. Another approach, and one which is complementary to the more broadly-based efforts of CCLOW is being taken by regionally-based groups. Despite the difficulties which these kinds of groups have in gathering together the resources necessary to support 'second-level' activities, at least three are currently active in Canada -- one each in British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia. In Halifax, the regional CCLOW network is active in a new coalition which has been formed to try to develop new alternatives in accreditation for basic education and upgrading. In British Columbia, the Women's Education and Training Coalition (WETC) is a coalition with 15 member groups. The coalition has been active since 1985 in presenting briefs, attending consultations and promoting in a variety of ways women's full participation in education, training and employment. In Toronto, Ontario, the Association for Community-based Training and Education for Women (ACTEW) has also been active since 1985, representing 35 member organizations. Most members are located in Toronto and area, but recently ACTEW has begun to include more members from around the province. A principal concern of ACTEW has been, and is, the erosion in federal funds available to support community-sponsored training.

Clearly, there is a significant need for this kind of regionally' based joint action. Both WETC and ACTEW have found an increasing demand for their advice and assistance coming from governments and other non- profit organizations. Unfortunately, most community-based sponsors of programs do not have the resources to engage in second-level work on an ongoing basis. This makes it very difficult for groups such as WETC and ACTEW to maintain themselves on an ongoing basis. Currently, ACTEW has funding to support a staff person and an office from the Women's Program of Secretary of State until early in 1988. WETC, without that kind of support, is struggling to maintain contact among members and momentum for the coalition as a whole.

4.3.6 Training Targeted to Critical Points in the Learning Life-cycle:

If adult education and training for women is to be more than a belated remedy for inadequacies in the education of girls, then it is essential that those whose work is focused on one point in the learning life-cycle should have a good understanding and some direct connections with those offering education and training at other critical points. A particular concern raised during our research was that young girls are still emerging from secondary schooling inadequately prepared for the 45 years which most of them will spend in the labour force. Not only does this cause problems for the girls themselves, but it also means that educators working at the points of entry, re-entry, career change and retirement have as much work to do in the areas of attitude change and development of realistic expectations as they do in ordinary skill development. One conclusion of our research has been that a major factor in the success of adult education and training programs lies completely outside the programs themselves As young girls begin to emerge from secondary school believing that they will need the skills to find work which is lucrative enough to provide adequate support for themselves and their children during a period which will stretch through five decades, the potential for success in later training and education efforts will be greatly increased. As a result, we investigated work which is presently ongoing to provide young women with just that kind of preparation.