Courses run by the company that manages the Government’s scheme for high-flying teachers have been criticised by inspectors.

A teacher-training course in information and communications technology run by the Centre for British Teachers failed to meet government standards.

The Office for Standards in Education also identified serious weaknesses in two similar distance-learning courses run by the not-for-profit firm in English and geography. Failing to meet government standards can lead to withdrawal of accreditation.

The Reading-based company, the Government’s preferred bidder to run the fast-track scheme for teachers, has been told to improve the courses or face loss of accreditation for teaching training.

It has already shut the ICT course, which had just two trainees at the time of the inspection.

The Teacher Training Agency, meanwhile, has reduced the number of places it offers for English from four to three.

CfBT is now reconsidering all of its distance-learning postgraduate certificate in education courses, catering for about 20 trainees.

Historically, the company subsidised the courses because of its interest in teacher training and distance learning. Its wider interests include teacher recruitment, careers and a south London education action zone. It was the first organisation asked to help turn around Rams Episcopal, a failing school in Hackney, east London.

Neil McIntosh, CfBT chief executive, said the problem was not with the quality of the courses but with meeting the requirement to cover the curriculum in full in both private and state schools.

ICT, for example, is not generally taught as a subject in the independent sector, making it difficult to ensure trainees get a breadth of experience, he said.

The inspectors were critical of the quality of CfBT’s distance-learning materials on all three courses, saying the ICT materials “are so out-of-date that are they are of little use in guiding trainees towards good practice in the classroom”.

There were limited records of the ICT trainees’ teaching, assessment and evaluations and few lesson observations in trainees’ files, making judgments about whether they had met the standards for qualified teacher status unreliable.

However, a previously failed maths course was judged to have improved, and one in classics was rated good in all areas inspected.

Details of the contract to manage the fast-track scheme are still being hammered out and the first cohort of 110 fast-track trainees are in the middle of their university courses.

The scheme has started taking applications from experienced teachers and CfBT will be managing fast-trackers’ career development and school placements. Those who join the fast-track programme will be expected to change schools every two years.

A Department for Education and Skills spokeswoman said: “All the bids for the management of the fast-track programme were rigorously evaluated. CfBT has appropriate resources and experience.”