STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES

Support services are vital to disadvantaged women, not only to make training accessible to them, but also to retain them in training. ACTEW members acknowledge their social responsibility by providing a great deal of personal counselling and advocacy. Social problems engendered by systemic discrimination are not viewed as personal difficulties which individual women must overcome themselves.

Confidence building, independence and assertiveness are three major benefits to ACTEW trainees. At Times Change Women's Employment Service for instance, 70% of clients said confidence building is more important to them than actual skills training or academic upgrading.

It is common for ACTEW groups to spend up to 30% of their program time providing support service.

At one ACTEW group, 58% of trainees undergo a major personal crisis while in training. Crisis management may involve staff escorts to hospital (when battered); to divorce court and legal aid clinics; to psychiatrists and doctors. Without this support, the drop out rate would be devastating.

Childcare is one of the most pressing problems for ACTEW students, no matter what their status. But, only 35% of ACTEW programs offer on-site childcare because of funding shortages and government red tape. It is not unusual for staff to spend whole days trying to find suitable childcare for trainees. About 63% of the women have children; 40% have preschoolers - so childcare is crucial to their training opportunities. Constant daycare cutbacks by the government have resulted in repeated unsuccessful attempts by some staff and trainees to secure quality, stable, afford- able childcare.

A further difficulty is that, since federal training allowance are tied to attendance, women who become ill or who must care for sick children at home, lose this financial support temporarily. Already in a state of poverty, this means they may not eat for several days or they may choose not to pay the rent instead and be evicted.

Government and college officials interviewed during the study regularly called for a central student referral service to ensure women are adequately informed about the plethora of new alternate training opportunities opening up. This was echoed by ACTEW trainees, "I would have loved a women's training resource centre to give me long term support". "Many of the mistakes I made were not well thought out choices and could have been avoided". "I found myself hopping about from one short course and job to another without much continuity." Establishing a central student referral service is a possibility the proposed centre may have to consider.

NONTRADITIONAL TRAINING

The ACTEW study found that family and peer opposition are just as difficult to overcome as institutional obstacles and sexist education, when women consider nontraditional training. Many women are willing, at least, to consider this field until their husband and/or family object. Yet, ACTEW programs do not have the resources to do family counselling of this nature. Surprisingly, in research interviews, several CEIC officials said they do not consider it their mandate to convince women to go into nontraditional training. The proposed training centre will have to develop better community relations and strategies on this issue.

The Avebury report on 'Marketing Nontraditional Jobs to Girls and Women' (CEIC, 1985) was published just as ACTEW research drew to an end. It's research shows that guest speakers (women in nontraditional jobs), as role models, are the best method of introducing women to this field. The recommended centre must establish a skills bank of resource women to perform this necessary service.

Once women have chosen non-traditional training, ACTEW programs which focus on these occupations have no difficulty attracting and retaining women students. In fact, 47% of ACTEW trainees who participated in the ACTEW study said they would like to take courses in technology, business skills, mathematics and science.

An excellent example of non-traditional training is West End Machining which has no vacant seats. Students average 92% to 97% grades, much higher than average. All trainees secure jobs before they graduate, and 92% are placed in the metal cutting trades for which they are trained. Fifty per cent of graduates even serve in registered apprenticeships. This is astounding since only 3% of women in Ontario are employed in machining. To overcome harassment on the job and offer moral support, they have established the Association of Women in Machining.