ABSTRACT
Australian technical and vocational education has recently seen the implementation of an external course for isolated and rural mature women to draw them into the building and construction field. The course, Introduction to Technical Occupations, was developed by the New South Wales state Department of Technical and Further Education. From a growing recognition of the many disadvantages experienced by women in public and private life, the New South Wales state government and its departments have initiated a variety of programmes and policies designed to improve women's social and economic positions. Australian country women are concentrated in a narrow range of typically female occupations. The Department of Technical and Further Education is the major provider of technical and trade training in New South Wales. This preliminary analysis has shown that the combination delivery methods of correspondence mode, group enrolment and a compulsory face-to-face skills training component do overcome access difficulties for isolated women.
