Recommendations:

During the course of the research, it became abundantly clear that many of the women involved in the program have many difficulties with which they have to deal.

As we discussed how the abuses they had suffered affected their lives, all of the women said it was the contributing factor in their dropping out of school. They all stated how hard they found it to concentrate in school after the abuse started in their lives. They further stated that it continued to affect them to this day. Some of the women who had not had any help dealing with the abuse found that many times they felt overwhelmed, frustrated, angry, hurt, alone, stupid, or useless. They were mystified by these feelings because none of them understood that the feelings were normal, stemming from childhood abuse.

Those women who had sought counselling said that they often had to take time out from their school work because, in the course of dealing with the abuse in a counselling situation, many old memories arose. For example, a counsellor called me to say that a student in my class would not be coming in that day. This student was not ready to deal with math and reading when she had just spent two hours reliving being six years old and sexually abused.

Thus it became clear that programs must take a holistic approach to the education of adult literacy students. Each individual in the program has a set of life circumstances different from everyone else. This must be taken into consideration when expectations and planning are being discussed. I do not think that we should expect the women and men who come to our programs to always be at peak learning potential. We must have compassion and understanding and help them work through all of the problems they face, not just the academic problem. To this end, our programs must be flexible and allow students the time that is necessary for each one to deal with any and all problems.

We must also understand that times will arise when academic work must take second place to personal issues. If a student suddenly is showing a lack of , interest in school work, it does not necessarily mean she no longer cares about school. It could be that a personal issue is pushing to the forefront. The student must be allowed the time away from academic work to confront these issues.

Many adults who are involved in basic upgrading also need help in accessing counselling. To have instructor/counsellors working in programs is the ideal. A level of trust is often built between the student and the instructor that allows a student to talk to the instructor about past or present abuse. The instructor may be the first person that a student has had enough trust in to tell her story to. Instructors need to be allowed time within the program to help the student face the challenge of dealing with personal problems. Once the student feels comfortable, the instructor can help the student access counselling away from the program. The program would be the first step in dealing with the problem.