Book Reviews 261

detail, and 238 by postal questionnaire. Some of the material is well known or easily predictable, for exam- ple, the growth of examination entries in computer stud- ies, the low representation of girls in these classes, and the way in which computing is annexed by men teachers from the mathematics departments in schools. But some of it is quite startling. For me the most dramatic result came from the question on why girls generally seemed not to be very interested in computing. Of the 190 co- educational schools that responded, only one challenged the basis of the question and asserted that girls were interested in computing. But 15 of the 26 girls’ schools replied in this way, often quite indignantly. If that’s not an argument for single-sex schooling, I don’t know what is!

The booklet contains much fascinating material. Particularly interesting are the comments on the organi- sation of computer clubs, and the way in which girls- only sessions can backfire if not carefully supervised. And the information from pupils on home computers: would you believe that only 28% of the girls taking Computer Studies had a home computer, compared to 65% of the boys? And only 16% of the girls who had a computer at home said it had been bought for them or another female in the household, compared to 85% of the boys who said their computer had been bought for a male? No wonder girls get the message, and decide that computing is not for them.

Lorraine Culley concludes with a list of 10 recom- mendations for schools to help them eliminate gender differences in computing. Anyone concerned about the situation in their school would do well to arm themselves with a copy of this booklet before tackling the problem.

ALISONKELLY

AMBITIONS AND RWLISATIONS, by Arlene McLaren, 189 pages. Peter Owen, London, 1985/1987. Price Brf6.95.

WOMEN RETURNING m LEARNING, by Enid and Edward Hutchinson, 145 pages. National Extension College Publications, Cambridge, 1986. Price hardbound Brf9.95. ‘

The ground covered in these two books is somewhat different, but their aims and the conclusions reached are complementary.

The focus of McLaren’s book is “on the perceptions of individuals.” She interviewed all 48 women who en- rolled on a one-year foundation programme or a two- year certificate programme at an adult education college in London. She followed up these interviews with obser- vations and discussions over a two year period, finally contacting some of the students again eight years after the original interviews. She has placed the students’ per- ceptions of their experiences “within the context of so- cial-historical forces which directly influence their lives.” By birth the students came from a variety of class backgrounds, but shared the work experience of the “fe- male job ghetto”: they were secretaries, clerks, nannies, and homehelps. They also shared “negative feelings about their childhood schooling,” but had “now reached the stages in their lives in which a return to education

made set&e.” They were perhaps atypical of women in general in that they did believe that “their experiences need not necessarily repeat themselves,” and that they would benefit from a second educational chance. The women could now see that they had not been sufficiently encouraged by parents or teachers to pursue their need and ability to respond to further education. Family and society had assumed that “they would be primarily en- gaged in housekeeping and the rearing of children.” Ob- servation of social change around them combined with the new insights and vocabulary of the women’s move- ment to make them aware of their lack of control over their marriages, relationships, and working lives. McLaren found that women do not necessarily have themselves to experience divorce or the “empty nest syn- drome” before considering the possibility of change in their lives.

McLaren’s detailed study of a small number of wom- en bears out the conclusions of the Hutchinsons’ suc- cinct opening chapter: “Why women- what about men?” The Hutchinsons’ book goes on to offer a well- informed and brief survey of the type of courses open to women returners and a criticism of the assumptions and practices of some of these. They use the replies (received from students on Fresh Start courses at two colleges in the south) to questionnaires distributed over a period of seven years. Many of their conclusions are practical: they criticise Access courses for the lack of part-time provision, and they strongly advocate recognition of childcare and transport problems. They identify the ab- sence of women course-leaders and give full recognition to the energy, enthusiasm, and commitment of part-time tutors in offering counselling and advice, and they are aware of how much of this is not renumerated. Philo- sophically, they put in a strong plea for courses which do not lead to the exclusive alternatives of success or fail- ure, but which are “firmly rooted in the tradition of individual and social development, implied in the term ‘liberal adult education.“’

Neither book deals with the question of separatism in adult education at any length, but the Hutchinsons do raise the complex question of the need to equip students in a male-dominated, unsatisfactory system while at the same time protesting against that system. This dilemma is made all the more painful by McLaren’s identification of the energy and skill needed by women returners to overcome “challenge after challenge posed by discrimi- nation due to age, social class, race and, above all gen- der.” She believes that the women who meet those chal- lenges rarely fulfill their potential: what chance is there then for those who do not?

JOHANNAALBERTI