Inspection team is full of praise for community learning service

STAFFORDSHIRE County Council’s Community Learning service has been awarded the international quality Matrix Standard for providing high quality information and advice to residents about learning and work.

The accreditation was awarded after a two-day assessment that included interviews with staff, partners, customers and stakeholders.

The Community Learning Service was praised for helping people to understand their options, achieve their next steps and move towards further learning and employment.

Assessors noted the service’s wide range of well-established relationships with partners including major employers - in addition to its “proactive” and “flexible” approach to helping learners faced with various barriers and challenges.

The Matrix report concluded that the county council “promotes and fosters a learning development culture.” This is supported by 2022-23 feedback surveys, which found that 99 per cent of learners enjoyed their course and were happy with the support received from their tutor.

Staffordshire Community Learning provides services for about 2,500 adult learners every year.

Courses provided include English for speakers of other languages, digital skills, employability and family learning.

The county council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for economy and skills, Councillor Philip White, said: “I would like to congratulate the Community Learning service team for achieving the international quality Matrix Standard.

“This prestigious accolade is testament to the expertise and dedication that our staff demonstrates every day to help residents upskill, access further learning and secure good quality jobs.

“It was great to see the Matrix report acknowledging how the service has an excellent reputation across local communities with lots of word-of-mouth referrals and the overwhelmingly positive feedback from both our learners and partners.

“Residents looking to develop essential employability skills can have every confidence they will get the best support from the Staffordshire Community Learning team.”

For more information on the Staffordshire Community Learning service and to access support, visit Staffordshire Community Learning Staffordshire Adult and Community Learning.