The government has said that an email it wrote for teacher hopefuls promoting debunked learning styles was sent “in error”.

Last week it emerged that the Department for Education had produced a Get Into Teaching newsletter, in which it said there were “three types of learners” - visual, auditory and kinaesthetic.

It also invited readers to take part in a quiz to determine their own “learning style”.

Related: DfE criticised for promoting debunked learning styles

Neuromyths: The learning styles debate is reignited

Pedagogy: Eight myths holding back innovation in teaching

A screenshot of the newsletter was shared on social media by primary education lecturer Sarah Brownsword, and criticised by the DfE’s own behaviour tsar, Tom Bennett, who joked that he could not dispense with the theory.

DfE promoted debunked learning styles

Now the department has revealed that the email was sent “in error”.

It clarified that the DfE does “not advocate the learning styles that were referenced”.

The visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning styles “neuromyth” has been widely debunked.

In fact, as one education lecturer pointed out, the DfE’s own teacher training framework cites a paper entitled “The Myth of Learning Styles” by Daniel Willingham.

The framework itself states: “There is a common misconception that pupils have distinct and identifiable learning styles.

“This is not supported by evidence and attempting to tailor lessons to learning styles is unlikely to be beneficial.”

A DfE spokesperson said: “An email from Get into Teaching was sent in error to a small proportion of students who had expressed interest in teaching. The message included a link to an interactive quiz on learning styles and has since been taken down.

“We do not advocate the learning styles that were referenced, and our initial teacher training core content framework is clear that attempting to tailor lessons to learning styles is unlikely to be beneficial.”