River Cottage named first dual accredited online cookery course

12 January 2023

Mark of Culinary Excellence from CPD and ICSA signifies industry mindset move

The River Cottage Diploma, developed with online learning specialists, Learning With Experts, has been named the world’s first online cookery course to gain accreditation by the CPD Standards Office, Continue Professional Development, and ICSA, Independent Cookery Schools Association.

A first for the culinary education sector, the endorsement by such internationally recognised bodies marks a step change in attitude towards online courses, demonstrating the significance of its value in the workplace.

Hosted by pioneering, Oxford-based, online learning platform, Learning with Experts, the CPD highlighted exemplary ‘course content’, with the ICSA promoting excellence in teaching standards, a first for the ICSA on an online course.

“In these challenging times, whether you are a professional or amateur cook, being able to up your cooking skills, and make healthy and sustainably sourced food consistently delicious, is always going to be worthwhile. And so, we’ve set out to democratise our cookery courses, making it more accessible than ever to achieve a certified River Cottage qualification in cooking.

River Cottage and Learning with Experts have created two diplomas covering a huge range of practical, professional and artisan cooking skills, learned through a genuinely interactive and mutually supportive community. Our key difference of studying together in small intimate groups creates a powerful and nurturing online learning environment, which works brilliantly for cooking. Myself and our talented team of River Cottage chef-tutors are hugely enjoying the teaching and interaction with our brilliant students.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, River Cottage

River Cottage Cookery School was awarded our onsite accreditation last year, scoring full marks. Being awarded one of our ‘Centres of Excellence’, sampling their online content, delivered by Learning with Experts, was the next natural step.

“Our team rigorously watched and tested the extensive course range; the teaching quality was exceptional, and the courses delivered transferrable culinary skills for both domestic cooks and aspiring career chefs. We’re delighted to provide teaching accreditation to River Cottage as our very first ‘ICSA Online Teaching Academy’ in partnership with CPD for their course content accreditation.”

James Day, Director of Operations at ICSA

Thanks to the combination of revolutionary, teacher-led online learning, real-world accreditation and recognisable, trusted sources, students find themselves armed with the tools needed to retrain with confidence when seeking a career change without the traps of traditional tuition fees and commitments.

For more information, visit: https://www.learningwithexperts.com/rivercottage

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River Cottage

Since Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage television shows first aired in 1999, the names of Hugh and River Cottage have stood for the firm belief that great food can not only bring us all happier and healthier lives, but also nurture and inspire positive change in the world. At the heart of this idea is a commitment to education, getting people closer to the source of our food and understanding how our food choices impact the world around us. Today River Cottage is:

- A world-leading rural cookery school and events venue

- A well-loved and trusted brand of ethically produced organic foods

- A phenomenal force in cookery book publishing

- A household name with over 17 TV series over 14 years

River Cottage television, books, innovations, and education, along with Hugh’s campaigning TV series, have changed the conversation about food and sustainability in the UK and sent ripples around the world.

More information: www.rivercottage.net

Learning with Experts

Learning with Experts is a global classroom community bringing people together to learn from expert tutors & others. Classmates interact with real experts and learn through inspiring, quality videos and are pooled into small, supportive classes.

Courses span a variety of topics including Gardening, Food & Drink, Photography, Antiques and more. With inspiring, top-of-their-field tutors from across the globes including Michel Roux Jr, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Chris Beardshaw.

https://www.learningwithexperts.com/

Independent Cookery Schools Association “ICSA”

Independent Cookery Schools Association “ICSA” is the only independent, not-for-profit, regulatory body for cookery schools in the UK. Established in 2014, founded by industry leaders, ICSA now accredits independent cookery schools for excellence in cookery skills and training. ICSA members also focus on teaching and practicing Sustainability, Seasonality, Sourcing regionally and Supporting British Producers, with an on- going focus on nutrition and healthy eating.

Each member school is selected based on strict criteria following application. Assessment visits are made by qualified assessors based on the teaching standards of Chef Tutors across key performance indicators. The ICSA accreditation ‘Certification Logo’ is only awarded if consistency is achieved, highlighting that they are recognised as Accredited Cookery Schools.

More information https://icsacookeryschools.org/