ABSTRACT

This chapter begins with a study which considers the process of 'second chance' education that is post-experience, non-formal educational provision for adults. The fieldwork setting was a transient educational organization brought into being by sponsorship from an agency of central government. The educational activities of this transient organization were focused on the re-training of the female adult unemployed. The ‘pilot’ programme (NEW) programme was the setting of a transitional process for both trainers and trainees, symbolized as a 'bridge' between entry and exit states. Trainer and trainee transitions through the NEW programme were thus projected as both integrated and harmonic. The 'return to work' transition was largely translated into the group activities curriculum. The transitional processes of the NEW programme can be interpreted as both patriarchal and patronizing, perpetuating both a discriminatory sexual division of labour and the marginalization of educational provision for women.