ADULT LEARNING SERVICE

A report by Government inspectors has branded Derby City Council's adult learning service as "very weak". It was given the worst rating, a five on a scale of one to five, and inspectors highlighted 30 weaknesses across seven different areas. The service was inspected in January 2004 by a 15-strong team from the Adult Learning Inspectorate. The main areas that were criticised were sports and leisure courses, the running of computer courses, foundation courses that teach reading, writing and maths, and family learning courses, where parents can learn to help their children with school work.

Sport and leisure was given the worst rating as students have to take equipment because none is provided and the standard of teaching was "very poor" and computer courses were rated "unsatisfactory". Inspectors also said there was insufficient access to computer facilities for some people, but praised the initiatives for widening participation in lessons. Leadership and management was criticised for lack of plans to improve basic skills and weak management of the curriculum.

But the strategy to improve teaching and initiatives to attract under-represented students were praised. The best mark of "satisfactory" was given to visual and performing arts courses and English, languages and communications courses. The report came as a blow to more than 7,000 people who enrol on about 400 courses at various centres across Derby each year, 1,500 of them attend courses at St Helen's House, in King Street, weekly.

The adult learning service has recently increased its fees from £2.40 to £2.60 an hour for leisure courses and from £1.20 to £1.30 per hour for qualification courses for 2004 to 2005. Following the report, the council called for a review of how best to provide adult learning in Derby in the future, which will also include Derby College and the Derbyshire Learning and Skills Council, and is responsible for funding adult education across the county.

Inspectors acknowledged changes taking place, and noted a new strategy to improve performance in the teaching of information communication technology and family learning had been set up. The service was praised for bringing 150 mentally-ill people back into learning and enabling 200 asylum seekers and refugees to attend courses in the past year.

Two weeks after Derby City Council's adult learning provision was judged to be "very weak", the Adult Learning Inspectorate found that Derbyshire was one of the top performing authorities out of 50 it looked at. It awarded the county council good or satisfactory grades in all categories examined. They included the range of opportunities, computer courses, visual and performing arts and media.