All of this provides an excellent argument in support of bridging programs, as well as good background material for use in any "Women In The Labour Market" presentation or discussion. The first volume is the most useful book of the series especially for administrators, government funders and analysts, and instructors on the front line.

Part 2, Summary Findings & Recommendations for a Pre-Apprenticeship Bridging Program for Women gives the details of the needs assessment survey that directed development of the model. Community and college-based educators, trade union or industry representatives, policy consultants, others with particular expertise, and tradeswomen were chosen as respondents: program reviews were also used in the assessment.

When ACTEW found that many of the women who were working at a trade did not have qualifications, they decided to include them anyway because they wanted to know "why the majority of the sample had not apprenticed." This is probably the most unique research question in the work, yet there is no further mention of this subject in the three books.

After completing a review of existing programs a list of subject areas was developed for respondents to comment on, for example, Outreach and Recruitment, Placement and Follow-up, and English Communications. The most innovative materials in this section are the responses relating to the impact of access, or the lack thereof, to the particular subject areas on Native and visible minority women. There is certainly a crying need to address the double and triple oppression of these women, and comments provide a good start for our thinking and practices.

Unfortunately at some parts in this section, sweeping generalizations are made without any analysis or rationale. For example, the statement, "A community group is more likely than a large institution to be able to provide the kind of learner-centered program women need," is made without any discussion of who thinks this and why.

Chapter 3 of Part 2 is entitled" A pre- apprenticeship bridging program for women: The Model." It begins by describing the program objectives and goes on to discuss general organization of the program as well as financial support, flexible scheduling, multiculturalism/race relations, etc. Where the description falls short of expectations is in the program content section and in the model itself. The program content is a brief list of the subject areas identified earlier, and the model is only one page of modules in a flow chart, with twelve pages of the same rational that was mentioned in the survey section, and little practical suggestion for the question, "What do I do today in my classroom?" Volume 3 of the set is only a repetition, under separate cover, of Chapter 3 of Part 2.

The danger involved in having produced a set like this is that the government can point to it, claiming to have done their duty when, in fact, only the very first stage has been accomplished. Still necessary is a manual for those who teach these courses-a book that takes the module headings ("occupation exploration, "life skills", "generic tool skills") and provides learning objectives, performance objectives and most of all, learning activities, that can turn a woman with minor or inactive attachment of the labour market into a potential tradeswomen, technologist, or blue collar worker.

Three such possible manuals are the Ontario Women in Trades and Technology (WIT) course curriculum, written by Susan Booth and the Women's Workshop in 1980 and published by the Ministry of Skills Development; Orientation to Trades and Technology-A Curriculum Guide and Resource Book with Special Emphasis on the Needs of Women, (on), written by myself and published by the B.C. Ministry of Advanced Education and Job Training in 1987; and Bridges: A Program Manual Introducing Women Employees to Non-Traditional Occupations, by Pat Hacker with Eleanor Ross, published by the City of Toronto.