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ERIC Number: ED478441
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2002
Pages: 11
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Training for Whom? For What? Reflection on the Lack of Training Opportunities for Immigrant Garment Workers. NALL Working Paper.
Ng, Roxana
Unlike many recent immigrants who entered Canada as highly trained professionals in their countries of origin, most of Canada's immigrant garment workers are working-class women with little education. The Apparel Textile Action Committee (ATAC) and Homeworker's Association (HWA) are among the bodies that were established to assist immigrant garment workers in Canada who lost their jobs to industrial restructuring and became home workers. The experiences of both bodies has made it clear that the training available to these women does not meet their needs as immigrants with a limited command of English. A study of the informal learning outcomes of HWA's members yielded the following findings: (1) most immigrant garment workers have little expectation that taking classes will lead to better jobs and higher pay; (2) although most immigrant garment workers do not expect that English-as-a-second language (ESL) classes will make them fluent in English, their ESL classes serve important social and educational purposes by giving participants a place to develop a sense of sociability with other workers and learn strategies for negotiating their lives as non-English speaking immigrants and their rights as workers; and (3) although classes are obvious places to look for informal learning, the HWA's executive meetings provide environments for explicit "political learning." (MN)
For full text: http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/depts/sese/csew/nall/res/6Roxana %20Ng .pdf.
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Ottawa (Ontario).
Authoring Institution: Ontario Inst. for Studies in Education, Toronto. New Approaches to Lifelong Learning.
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A