We probably all have some memory of watching or listening to schools programmes. They have been – at least until the advent of the internet – one of the most essential educational tools. 

They have formed part of Ö÷²¥´óÐã output for generations, since beginning on radio in the 1920s.  Schools television joined the mix in 1957, by which time it was not beyond the capability of most schools to afford a television set, and most children would have been used to television at home.

Speaking personally, the rituals involved were far more striking than the easy process of watching television at home.  In the case of my primary school there was a special attic room where the sole television was kept in a raised wooden cabinet, locked of course, and we were lucky to see a programme once a week. 

Perhaps oddly, I don’t remember much about the programmes we saw, with a couple of exceptions – the process of the class trooping upstairs to the cramped TV room was more memorable than what we were going to see.  The most striking memory perhaps is of the special clock graphic used to count down to the start of each programme – both Ö÷²¥´óÐã and ITV used their own version of these.  They had a certain hypnotic quality, and built up the tension…

Most of my memories of specific schools programmes come from times when I was off school due to illness or the odd variations in holidays imposed by our local authority, when – in the absence of any other programmes to watch – you would sit through the whole gamut of , from Watch to Going to Work, Merry-Go-Round to Engineering Craft and Science, You and Me to Scene.

Some of the earliest broadcasts aimed at schools were by (who we mentioned last time due to his New Year talks), the Ö÷²¥´óÐã’s first Director of Education.  Appointed in 1925, he was already giving talks for schools the previous year.  Most of the first programmes were talks, unsurprisingly given that most early factual radio was in this form. 

At first, it was a matter of guess work whether these broadcasts were of any use to schools, and it wasn’t until 1927 that any organised research was possible.  A study carried out in Kent found that straight talks were unpopular and not very effective, and more imaginative methods were called for.  Given the highly regional nature of the early Ö÷²¥´óÐã, it is notable that each area of the country would provide its own programmes for the first few years, but gradually networking became standard.  That said, there was always a certain regional element preserved, especially in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Schools broadcasting was also held back by the technical limitation that the usual way of listening to radio programmes in the 20s was through headphones.  Gradually loudspeakers became the preferred method, and this was obviously far better for mass listening, but it was not straightforward to get suitable equipment for use in schools.  High quality reception was also an issue, and the large aerials used for early radio reception, especially in more remote areas, were the subject of complaints from those who felt they were an eyesore.

Another of the most notable early schools broadcasters was the Ö÷²¥´óÐã’s music adviser, , who began broadcasting to schools in 1924. Despite his reputation as a great broadcaster and populariser of ‘serious’ music, some felt he was too challenging for many children.  He remained involved with Ö÷²¥´óÐã music until his death in 1941, having meantime been appointed Master of the King’s Music in 1934, succeeding Sir Edward Elgar.

Music, which was always such a key part of radio broadcasting, was also a major component of schools radio over the years, with series such as Ann Driver’s (1934) and (1939) pioneering ways of getting children involved with music and dance.

Gradually radio began to cover a wide range of school subjects, from history to geography, languages, literature and mathematics, and strands such as For the Schools were developed to identify such material in the schedules.  

Broadcasting meant that experts (such as native speakers of languages) could be made available to the whole country, though teachers often naturally treated the medium with caution, as only one small part of teaching technique.  It could be a useful stimulus, especially to the not naturally academic, but it was difficult for the Ö÷²¥´óÐã to provide programmes that were helpful to all skill levels, especially when hours were limited.

There were many dedicated people who ended up committing their whole careers to educational broadcasting, such as , who joined the Ö÷²¥´óÐã in 1927 and spent most of her career there, working in Bristol from 1939 when the department was evacuated there at the start of the war.  Broadcasters better known from other more general work in the Ö÷²¥´óÐã would sometimes contribute to schools programmes, such as the topical speaker Stephen King-Hall, and gardening expert C.H. Middleton.

The Second World War cemented the place of Ö÷²¥´óÐã schools radio in the nation’s consciousness, as with many parts of the Ö÷²¥´óÐã. There was little competition, for one thing, and that was not concerned with such public service activities.  Programmes included series to teach children about the world and why it was at war, as well as the practical problems of things like rationing, and as with all the Ö÷²¥´óÐã’s output during the war (supervised by the Ministry of Information) there was an undercurrent of propaganda against totalitarianism (unless it was that of our allies, like the USSR).

After the war schools broadcasting picked up from where they had left off, albeit the programmes reflected peacetime and its new challenges.  Education was changing with the 1944 Education Act meaning all children now got some kind of secondary schooling, and could not leave before the age of 15.  Secondary schools were split into grammar, secondary modern and technical schools, with the 11-plus exam determining who was suited to which sort of education.

Words and Pictures

It was not long before the expansion of television prompted thoughts of providing schools television programmes as well as for radio, although the relative expense of sets in a time of austerity meant that it would take a while for this to become practical.  Nonetheless pilot schools television was made as early as 1952 for research purposes, but a service was not to be provided before 1957.

TV of course gave great scope for education, with an advantage over radio since normal classroom teaching usually has a visual element, and schools television could employ more elaborate effects and techniques than a classroom teachers, and incorporate film sequences.  As time went on it became possible for schools to hire copies of programmes to show at their leisure, and schools were one of the first markets for domestic video recorders which started to become available in the mid-60s, though they were not widespread until the 1970s.

The first Ö÷²¥´óÐã schools programme transmitted was in the series , shown on Tuesday 24 September 1957 at 2.05 pm.  Initially there was only one programme per day, with Science Helps the Doctor the next day, the first episode of the current affairs series Spotlight the day after that, and on Friday Young People at Work, about careers. 

Most early series were broadcast live but it was immediately recognised that there would be a need to repeat the programmes, for the convenience of schools.  was repeated the following Monday, and a clip from Living in the Commonwealth had been shown on the news on the day the service began – the Ö÷²¥´óÐã’s Director General, Sir Ian Jacob, and Gerald Beadle, head of the TV service, were shown watching the first programme at a London school.

As early schools television programmes proved a success, more subjects were covered, in series like Science and Life, and the English literature programme Characters in Action.  The number of schools programmes shown in any one day gradually increased and by the 60s there were sessions of programming in morning and afternoon slots. 

Drama was increasingly used to bring subjects to life, and though the casts were not star-studded due to the relatively low budgets, productions were often good quality, unfussy interpretations.  As early as January 1958 Schools mounted a production of , starring Douglas Wilmer.  Other dramatic productions included clips from several different plays to illustrate a theme or subject, as well as full adaptations of plays including Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle, John Arden’s Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance, and a version of the novel , all in the mid-60s.

Original drama began to be featured more as years went by, at first as illustration for subjects such as history, and then in its own right.  Writers such as Alan Plater, Keith Dewhurst and Colin Welland were among those who contributed plays.  The series Scene, which began in 1968, often used drama to tackle current affairs or General Studies topics.  Scene would go on to produce some of the best-remembered and respected schools programmes, such as Plater’s drama from 1969, starring Dennis Waterman, and Peter Terson’s controversial (1973).

Scene was equally noted for its documentary episodes, which tackled a wide range of subjects. The first editions in 1968 concerned immigration, and other episodes included the award-winning , about the family of a Down’s Syndrome child.  There were also forays into less serious subjects such as the pop business, and a look at the making of a episode – this particular programme was a short version of an Omnibus programme about the duo, screened a month after its Scene outing.

Literacy was another subject tackled by some well-remembered schools programmes, such as Look and Read and Words and Pictures, which used drama sequences and animation to hold the attention of children, and the dramas such as  and Sam on Boffs Island are still remembered now.  These series were originally intended for those children who found reading difficult, but they appealed to a wider audience as well, in much the same way as Vision On, which was primarily intended for deaf children, did.

Music programmes for schools must also not be overlooked, perhaps the best remembered series being , which ran from 1970.  This was produced by John Hosier, who had a long history of musical education broadcasting both on radio and television, starting in 1954 with Adventures in Music on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Service. His other television work included the series Making Music, which ran for many years in the 60s.

As the 70s and 80s went by, the range of topics covered widened – there were programmes about from 1970 which raised the inevitable protests from conservative groups, and there was an increasing awareness of multi-culturalism, moving beyond early immigration-themed ‘issue’ programmes.  There was also the factor of a longer school career, with the raising of the school leaving age to 16 in 1972 (covered in the further education series ) and the eventual greater expectation of tertiary education.

A lot of schools broadcasting was necessarily workmanlike and routine, trying its best to engage children without distracting overmuch from the varying demands of different curriculums in various parts of the country. There were specially made schools programmes for the nations, some of which were networked, and there was perhaps a greater regional diversity in schools programmes than elsewhere in the Ö÷²¥´óÐã.

As time went on, the demands of daytime television meant that schools television programmes were first relegated from Ö÷²¥´óÐã1 to Ö÷²¥´óÐã2, and then into the overnight bastion of .  It was no longer expected that a class would sit down at a scheduled time to watch or listen to programmes ‘live’ – they have become a fully flexible resource, and in time the on-line element has taken greater and greater importance.

Archivally speaking, the fact that schools television programmes were shown more than once and might be exported to other countries meant that their survival rate is higher than some other genres.  Programmes could be reshown or reworked into other forms many times. It was also one of the last things to fully transfer to colour production, meaning black and white recordings were less likely to be discarded.

Summarising the work of Schools Broadcasting is a difficult task, because the range of programmes and subjects is so wide. Any attempt to cover the whole range of its output risks omitting a great many programmes.

What are your memories of watching programmes when you were at school? The TV set being wheeled into the room? Those countdown clocks? Do you remember any particular programme? Please share them with us in the space below.