Educational Broadcasting 2020

Point of order, the Learning Zone was intended for everybody and the idea was to tape what you wanted and watch it back. It was aimed at everybody, from schools up to those doing Open University degrees, though after a certain point (2006 I think it was?) they stopped doing the OU stuff and then a lot of the more general interest stuff was withdrawn a few years later, it was only in the service's last two or three years that the bulk of what it delivered was schools based.


As to what you posted in the other thread, most of the "criticism" you received in that thread was probably more to do with the fact you kept banging on and on about the core subject, totally ignoring everybody else in the process unless it was what you wanted to hear and coming across as being all "high and mighty".

The only shows I remember watching on BBC Schools on BBC Two were The Magic Key, Watch, Come Outside and Numbertime.

Riaz it seems rather like you are using this thread noticeably as an opportunity to dredge up another thread and opinions/posts from over four years ago. Most normal people would have long gotten over arguments made several years ago, and accepted that people's opinions and the wider society views and needs quite often change over time.


Please cease referring to threads, posts, and opinions made four years ago as justification for replies made in this thread. That way hopefully this topic can avoid being derailed and locked.

There's the right tool for every job and I do not, and never have considered, CBBC as the best or even an appropriate vehicle for educational programmes relating to school subjects. I clearly stated that a dedicated TV channel would be the best choice instead. In this day and age delivering such programmes on the internet wins hands down over a linear TV channel, and it's what the vast majority of kids want as they can pick the programme they need for a particular task as and when they require it rather than having to wait for it to be broadcast. However, a prominent issue in this discussion, and the driving force for providing educational programmes on a linear TV channel, are that some children don't have the internet at home.



My favourite schools programmes were those about science, history, and geography. I found many of them to be quite pleasantly watchable material by parents and a more general audience. Hardly any programmes I recorded to watch at home I ended up watching at school. In fact most the schools programmes I watched at school were less interesting than the schools programmes I watched at home. As a result I have wondered whether I have watched more schools programmes than most people on TVF, who may well be passing judgements on (the relatively few) programmes they watched at school.

I'm not trying to stir up trouble using posts dredged up from the past...

What I am trying to illustrate is how the table has turned from an era where there was outright hostility (on TVF at least but not necessarily everywhere else) to the concept of broadcasting educational programmes relating to school subjects (even on a dedicated TV channel) for children to watch at home, to one where strong support exists for broadcasting educational programmes relating to school subjects on a linear TV channel for children to watch at home (if they don't have the internet at home), as a result of the coronavirus lock down.

I previously asked the question whether anybody here has school age children.

NorthTonight stated that they are a teacher. Is he able to offer any further comments about the situation?

As a former teacher, I definitely think that attitudes towards education have changed over the past few decades, and how it was a more carefree era back in the 1980s and possibly 1990s compared with more recent times. An era when there were stronger beliefs that children should just muddle along at school and enjoy their time outside of school rather than excelling academically. Whether the changes are for the better or the worse is a debatable subject.

I think that there was a bad misunderstanding. I clearly stated from the outset that educational programmes relating to school subjects for children to watch at home would be broadcast on a dedicated TV channel run by whoever the predecessors of the DfE were, but several other people had a mindset that they would be shown on a mainstream / general / profit making TV channel at prime time instead.

As a matter of interest, how did schools programmes back in the day fare in terms of ratings? For much/most of their run there was nothing on the other channels. I assume that the BBC and ITV knew how many housewives/unemployed etc were tuning in to How We Used to Live and Zig Zag?

I think it was different in the early days but the BBC referred to their school block as "Daytime on Two" rather than schools, possibly to try and appeal to a wider audience. C4 of course rebranded from schools to 4Learning, but then had things like Teen Big Brother in the slot towards the end.

The reason for it being called Daytime on Two was because it also showed adult education programmes within it. The schools programmes themselves were before and after lunch and when it began in 1983, Daytime on Two included adult education programmes (which until then had been going out on an ad hoc basis on BBC2 at the same time) at lunchtime to create a continuous strand from 9am until mid-afternoon.

Daytime on Two also included You and Me which, although produced by BBC Education, was always billed separately from the rest of the schools programmes when they were on BBC1 - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1981-02-02

I seem to think that YTV showed How We Used to Live in a post News at Ten slot at one point. Not sure if it was a one-off as part of an anniversary to showcase their output or if they thought there was genuine interest in it from an adult audience.

Interesting question. Were ratings given to most weekday daytime programmes?

I have wondered if many people with unconventional work hours or those with interests in niche programmes or programmes broadcast in less popular timeslots are ever deployed to obtain ratings of TV programmes.

All shows broadcast on the mainstream channels are rated by BARB, and I believe they have been for decades.

You don't just get a Top 10 or similar - you get the overnight ratings for every show broadcast on the channels BARB monitor (as well as a rating for ever 15 minute slot on every channel)