Careers:COURSES

Women without skills who want to go back to work after lengthy spells of domestic life are to be given more chances to find out what they can do, and how to go about it, by the Manpower Services Commission. Recent experimental Wider Opportunities for Women courses in Birmingham and Cardiff were highly successful; as a result, further courses are planned from this Autumn at Bath, Birminhgam, Cardiff, Coventry, Harrow, Hendon, Leeds, Oxford, Newcastle upon Tyne, and Stockton/Billingham. During the courses, which lasted from four to six weeks full‐time and eight to twelve weeks part‐time, women were encouraged to identify their own aptitudes by trying out various skills ranging from office work, hairdressing, and canteen work to typewriter repair, carpentry, and capstan lathe operating. Though based mainly at colleges of further education, participants were able to sample various jobs on employers' premises and at MSC skillcentres; this gave them the chance to explore areas of employment and training they might never have thought of before going on the course.