Ofsted praises local learning initiatives as "highly effective".
The majority of companies providing adult learning are doing an excellent job, the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) has suggested.
A study into Neighbourhood Learning in Deprived Communities schemes by the government department found that such projects "can be instrumental" in helping those in desperate need of learning opportunities, Her Majesty's chief inspector Christine Gilbert said.
"On the whole, providers are highly effective at engaging specific, targeted groups such as people with disabilities, lone parents, minority ethnic groups and young offenders," Ofsted reported.
The research comes at the same time as another Ofsted study into the way mathematics is and should be taught in schools.
In the report, it was suggested that too many teachers educate their pupils in order to pass tests, which can be restrictive.
The best method of teaching maths is to make the subject applicable to the every day lives of the students, it explained.
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