The BBC School Broadcasting Council and the Education System 1935–1971

Abstract

This article seeks to establish connections between histories of education and media by examining long-term institutional and structural factors. In order to establish a role for broadcasting in schools, the BBC formed a relationship with the educational world through advisory machinery called the Central Council for School Broadcasting (CCSB), later reconstituted as the School Broadcasting Council (SBC). In the key period of school broadcasting's development, between 1935 and 1971, the CCSB/SBC was unable to forge a strong relationship with the educational world. Internally, the BBC assumed control of school broadcasting at the expense of the CCSB/SBC. Developments in the early 1960s raised the possibility of fundamental reform. However this was prevented by factors including government policy on both school curricula and broadcasting, and indifference on the part of educationists. This article is largely based on unpublished archive documents.

Look and Read: BBC School Television and Literacy Teaching 1957-1979

“…It was governed by an advisory body with unusually extensive power, including a (diluted) commissioning role, from 1929, called the Central Council for School Broadcasting, and from 1947 the School Broadcasting Council (SBC). 4 The educative/educational distinction was only made consistently by those in the educational departments. The absence of any government legislation and so any statutory status or requirements meant that the BBC did not have to make the distinction explicit.…”

“…It had been formed partly in response to early scepticism from some teachers that broadcasts were of value to schools. 10 The SBC was a valuable guidance and feedback mechanism and helped broadcasting to be accepted in schools, as it gave a stamp of approval from some very senior figures in the educational world, which helped the BBC overcome objections from some teachers, including those who saw school broadcasting as inimical to progressive methods. However the SBC was also somewhat limited in that the BBC did not allow it to have real control over the content of school series or to advise over the place of education in the BBC's overall strategy, and it had no statutory power with the main institutions in the education system; teacher training colleges, local education authorities and central government.…”