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 comprised interviews with staff, partners, customers and stakeholders.

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

Assessors noted Staffordshire Community Learning’s wide range of well-established relationships with local partners – including major employers – in addition to their “proactive” and “flexible” approach to helping learners faced with various barriers and challenges.

The Matrix report concluded that the county council “proactively promotes and fosters a learning development culture.”

This is supported by 2022-23 feedback surveys, which found that 99% of learners enjoyed their course and were happy with the support received from their tutor.

Staffordshire County Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for economy and skills, 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.”

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

The course provision covers a wide range of subjects, including English for speakers of other languages, digital skills, employability and family learning.

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

The awarding of the quality Matrix accreditation could not be timelier with the Staffordshire Adult Learning and Skills Festival set to launch next week.

The festival will feature free workshops and sessions covering digital skills, family learning, wellbeing, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

The Staffordshire Community Learning team will be on hand to provide guidance on enhancing employability and developing essential soft skills.

To learn more about the festival, visit Adult Skills and Learning Festival | Staffordshire Community Learning.