All three of these experiences highlighted for me the way in which students can make significant academic and personal progress by working in groups that are formed for reasons other than standardized curriculum segments or skills-based program mandates.

Based on these experiences, I am making a strong recommendation that adult literacy and academic upgrading programs receive core funding that can be used to develop specific projects that focus on students both as individuals and as members of groups defined by gender, culture and personal experiences, in order to deal with issues that get in the way of learning.

I want to use my experience in the CCLOW project to develop my argument that projects developed by and for particular students to address their particular concerns are the best way to facilitate both their academic and their personal development.

For a very long time I have been concerned by the fact that so many of the women who attend the upgrading program at the Friendship Centre have been abused. The abuse does not seem to centre on any particular type at any particular age. Most of them have suffered from some form of abuse since childhood and often are continuing to be involved in abusive relationships.

I have not felt qualified to deal with situations when women asked to speak with me for a moment. Many of these women had tried to access counselling and for a variety of reasons the counselling did not work out. It was clear that coming to me was something of a last resort. Since part of my job as a literacy instructor is to listen when students need to talk, I would sit down with them. What I heard was often frightening. It took me a long while to be able to listen and not react only on an emotional level to what I was hearing. As time passed I got better at it and more and more of the women in the program began to tell me their stories.

I still did not know how to help the women deal with the situation, however, and I always encouraged them to find others in the community who were more qualified to listen and help. Once I had assisted them with finding help I could back away and let the professionals take over. Unfortunately, the women didn't ,want me to back away altogether. They still found that they needed me to help with writing assigned by their counsellors, with reading information, and with listening while they told their stories.

When I had the opportunity to apply to CCLOW for involvement in their national research project, I very much looked forward to the opportunity of meeting other women who I knew must have had the same experiences. I felt that in order to help the women in my program I needed to have as much general knowledge as I could get. I had to be able to discuss alternatives and healing with them. I also had to learn to hear their stories and not react so emotionally. I looked to the CCLOW project to set me on the path. I needed something to help me focus on what I needed to do and the CCLOW project was the answer.