Community Learning

Working in partnership with local organisations and council services to support adult and family learning courses aimed at enhancing the lives of people living, working and volunteering in West Berkshire.

To ensure our service provides access to a wide range of learning opportunities, the council also subcontracts the delivery of courses to local quality approved providers, many of whom specialise in working with specific learner groups. This approach enables the community learning service to effectively identify and respond to local need and skills gaps, maximise funding opportunities and access specialist tutors, resources and venues. All courses are delivered in local venues across West Berkshire.

The service had a successful Ofsted inspection in November 2022 that described community learning as being highly effective in relation to:

working with local partners to reach priority groups across the district
the monitoring of quality to ensure courses are delivered to a good standard by well qualified tutors
lessons that are well structured and maintain learner engagement throughout

West Berkshire's service is also featured on the Learning and Work Institute website, showing examples of good community learning provision involving parents with special needs and local community funding webinars.