The Future of Broadcasting for Learners
The projects we studied were seen in some cases as means of piloting collaborative work for possible
larger scale implementation. In other cases, such as Meridian’s, the work formed part of an existing
series of campaigns. In either case, broadcasters have reflected on the experience and on possible
developments for the future.
At the same time, the broadcasting environment is changing rapidly in terms of the market, competitive
forces, technology and the legislative and supervisory framework. There is a continuing movement
towards greater diversity of viewer choice as channels proliferate. Terrestrial broadcast analogue
television will no longer be the dominating force in the future, but will be overtaken by digital and
therefore interactive services which will integrate the functions of today’s televisions, hi-fis, radios
and pcs. These services will reach homes via a mix of satellite, cable, telephone line and terrestrial
broadcasting, and will eventually integrate with the growing world of mobile digital services.
In this new environment, the potential for broadcasters to contribute to lifelong learning will be transform e d .
From the broadcaster’s point of view, engaging the audience in learning will become a key weapon in the
arsenal needed to win and retain ratings in a fiercely competitive market. The audience will no longer be
just ‘viewers’, but will need to be thought of as web visitors / competitors / shoppers / members / ’voters’.
Learning will be one of the key ways in which it interacts with the services accessed via the home digital
gateway that will eventually replace the television.
This growing integration of services and influences will need to be matched by increasingly close
partnerships in support of lifelong learning broadcasting. Aside from the cases we studied, many in
broadcasting have not tended to be aware of the possibilities for externally funded projects. (The main
exception is the BBC, which has worked extensively with DfES, including, for example, the submission
of joint bids for European Social Fund projects). In fact, there are potential funders at all levels - from the
European Union to local or sectoral organisations - with whom broadcasters could work fruitfully.
Table 5.1 shows some possibilities for further work by the main stakeholder groups.
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Future Potential for Project Work – the Broadcaster View
Amongst the interests and possible developments noted by the broadcasters in the YCL case
studies were:
- a range of improvements to future partnership working including providing longer lead times,
facilitating more discussions and networking among partners, and the establishing of partnership
working responsibilities on a longer term basis within the broadcasting organisation;
- considering proposals for collaboration based on longer term funding to support more sustained
campaigns;
- commissioning of research to explore the feasibility of funding for a multimedia learning product;
- increasing the integration of learning support work across departmental boundaries within
broadcasters;
- longer term follow-up of learners featured in broadcasts to produce examples of progression as
‘human interest’ items;
- implementation of practical lessons learned about working with specific groups of viewers such as
the over-60s;
- further development of effective ways of working with providers and policymakers to support
future projects;
- a sharper focus on recording learner outcomes, for example prompted attendance at museums
and events, or course enrolments.
All agreed that, in the words of one evaluation, ‘there is the potential for this work to continue’.
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Table 5.1:
Examples of Future Tasks for Key Stakeholders
| What can broadcasters
do? |
Communicate market and technical
changes and theirimplications, to policymakers and others. |
| Develop innovative ideas and
approaches. |
| Discuss and propose ideas to
national, regional and/or local partners. |
| Feed in impact information, good
practice and lessons learned from projects. |
| What can funders
and practitioners do? |
Develop ideas and discuss with
broadcasters and others, at national/regional/local levels. |
| Communicate key policy aims and
changes to broadcasters. |
| Identify ‘bridge’
people and institutions who can work with both funders and broadcasters. |
| Develop data, knowledge and
expertise on ‘what works’. |
| What can others
do? |
Voluntary sector, communities,
unions or employer organisations can develop their own ideas, stories or materials. |
| Propose and develop 3-way
projects with broadcasters and practitioners. |
| Broker funding arrangements
between the parties. |
| Supply information and in-kind
support to projects. |
These future partnerships will need to draw in a
wider range of policy partners, especially the
newer organisations such as the Learning and
Skills Council, the Regional Development
Agencies, and the Small Business Service. Others
such as the National Training Organisations
(NTOs), unions, employer groups, and voluntary
and community organisations, also have potentially
valuable roles to play.
Similarly, specialist organisations such as UK
SKILLS, who organise skills competitions
throughout the UK, can contribute stories and run
often visually exciting events which might be used
in learning related broadcasting. Other local bodies
such as Learning Partnerships, and national players
such as the National Training Organisations, have
useful roles to play in co-ordinating partnership
work by providers and sector employers or
employer organisations. There is enormous
scope for further development in these areas.
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Learning in the Digital World
Djamila rediscovered learning in 2009 after settling down to watch a documentary on the wildlife
of the northern Sahara. After a hard day at the home shopping distribution centre, she didn’t have
the energy to hunt for the remote to switch to her normal soap programme.
What really caught her interest was the Algerian zoology professor who was describing an
obscure desert lizard. Djamila realised with something of a shock that the academic looked
so much like herself – if a little older – that watching her was like looking in the mirror. Then she
realised that, although her parents were Hounslow born and bred, previous generations had been
from North Africa, so this shouldn’t be too surprising.
Djamila activated the icon box which could be displayed alongside the main picture, and ran an
instantaneous replay of the interview. She was impressed by the woman’s obvious grasp of and
enthusiasm for her subject. Djamila envied her; it looked more fun than supervising the picking
and packing robots in a three-acre warehouse.
She clicked on the onscreen ‘more about’ icon and pulled up further information on the area, its
inhabitants and the flora and fauna. This included a booklet she could order, and the opportunity
to subscribe free to an interest group which would automatically alert her to new programmes,
courses, data and publications on these subjects. She switched the main broadcast to ‘record’
so that she could view the rest later. Using the international directory, she keyed in the professor’s
name and accessed her web pages. She realised from the material there that,
far from being a sterile sea of sand, the desert margins are actually a fascinating and fragile
environment. Switching to broadmail, she left a voice message for the professor thanking her
for her interesting contribution to the programme; she appended a videoclip of herself speaking,
wondering if the professor would spot the resemblance. She then began to look for more
materials and local or on-line courses so she could find out more.
Three years later Djamila found herself being greeted by the same professor as she arrived to
spend a fieldwork semester in North Africa researching semi-arid ecologies – part of her biology
degree course. And not a home shopping robot in sight!
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The challenge now is for policymakers and funders
to stimulate further similar work. They need to be
ready to approach broadcasters with ideas and
suggestions, not only at national level, but also
regionally or locally, where local partnerships or
agencies can work effectively with local radio.
Broadcasters, in the main, still need to be informed
about the policies and the potential for collaboration.
They need to see this as a longer term opportunity
to develop their relationships with the audience;
this in turn will facilitate the development of the
appropriate structures, skills and knowledge
within broadcasting organisations. This gradual
convergence between policymakers, broadcasters,
other partners, and the audience, can be the basis
of larger scale successes in the future.
