Learndirect slammed as “inadequate” by Ofsted

Sheffield-based adult education and apprenticeship business Learndirect has been slammed as “inadequate by Ofsted in a report released yesterday.

The damning verdict, which Learndirect attempted to block, was released yesterday after the High Court overruled an injunction against its publication.

Subsequently, the Government scrapped all its contracts with the firm. 1,600 jobs are said to be at risk at the business, which has offices across the UK.

The Ofsted report criticised the business saying that not enough learners achieved the qualifications required. It said subcontractors weren’t managed properly, maths and English skills were not cultivated properly it said, and teachers did not provide enough feedback to help learners improve.

According to the BBC, a spokesman for the company said: “We maintain that the process behind Ofsted’s report did not provide an accurate reflection of the current quality of Learndirect Limited’s training and performance due to the unrepresentative sample size and the use of legacy data.”

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