The information presented in this document has been gathered from primary and secondary research processes. A literature survey on educational broadcasting was conducted, and web sites of broadcasters and relating to educational broadcasting were visited. A SAIDE internal meeting was held with Neil Butcher and Jennifer Glennie, who had been more closely involved in formulating the SABC research proposal, to formulate a set of questions for international educational broadcasters. These research questions were given to Nicola Galombik (Head of Education at the SABC) who was attending an educational broadcasting conference in Rotterdam. A list of facsimile numbers and e-mail addresses was drawn up from the Rotterdam conference delegate list and from the secondary research. As a result, these contact details were not always reliable. The initial electronic correspondence gave some background to the research, alerted readers to the research web site that had been created and requested that recipients responded to the questions that had originally been drawn up. Maria Julia Stonborough, of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), kindly agreed to forward the facsimile questions to all the EBU subscribers. This method of data collection relied on goodwill for responses from those receiving the electronic correspondence. Realising that relying on e-mail or facsimile communication was not a very effective means of gathering data, attempts were made to follow up telephonically. Unfortunately, in many cases no telephone number was available.

By relying on secondary research and electronic correspondence, the research has tended to focus on developed countries, where access to communication technologies is widespread. As most of the initial contact details were obtained from web sites, the research was skewed towards those countries whose broadcasters have web sites. Nicola Galombik commented on how difficult it is to research developing nations

as most of them do not have an educational broadcast focus or a systematic schools’ service.(Meeting held with Nicola Galombik at the SABC on 19 March 1997)

Much of the information about developing nations’ broadcasting initiatives, has relied only on secondary sources.

The research has been significantly skewed towards English medium broadcasters. The web site survey was particularly biased in this regard. In visiting the sites of international broadcasters, information was only gathered from those broadcasters whose web sites were in English, or that offered an English version. Many other broadcasters had sites in languages other than English (Spanish, Portuguese and French were the most common)(WebOvision links many broadcasters’ web sites by country. This was used extensively to visit broadcasters’ sites and to get e-mail addresses), which made them inaccessible to this researcher.

The descriptions of the schools’ services of international broadcasters in this appendix are not exhaustive, but rather illustrative of a few services. The descriptions have been arranged alphabetically by country. The contact details of the people involved in the research have been included, and in each case the means of communication and sources of information is indicated. The level of detail varies greatly for each description. In some cases, the information obtained simply pointed to past and present existence of some form of schools’ broadcasting. In other cases, particularly where communication was established, detailed descriptions of the type and extent of the schools’ service, as well as research on it, was obtained. Both extremes have been included in attempt to give a more balanced picture(It has been mentioned that the means of data collection was a major source of bias, and that this skewed the research to a focus on English broadcasters and those from developed countries. For this reason, descriptions from secondary sources (even if brief) have been included to try and reflect developing countries and non-English broadcasters). For ease of reference the sources of information and the type of technology (radio and/or television) have been included in both the contents page and each description. The following countries have been included:

It should be noted that the section on the Commonwealth Caribbean starts with a general description of broadcasting in the region, and then discusses some specifics of broadcast services in Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. A general description of schools services in the United States of America of America precedes some specific television services.

Sources of Information: Web site, brochure, newspaper articles
Technology: Television and radio

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation ran a schools’ service for a number of years. It

has been involved in schools broadcasting on television since the early sixties offering substantial air time to support formal curricula for both primary and secondary schools.(Kenworthy, B.,1996)

It was usually classroom-based with expected input from the teacher.(Kenworthy, B.,1996)

According to Nicola Galombik, the corporation has recently stopped this service. It was still operational in 1996 and its web site seems to reflect its services in this year. In 1995 and 1996 the ABC’s schools education service broadcast between 10.00am and 12 noon during school terms(Australian Broadcasting Corporation (May 1995), Fact Sheet). A wide variety of programmes were offered in the curriculum areas of:
•    English;
•    Mathematics;
•    the Arts;
•    Health and Physical Education;
•    Languages other than English;
•    Science;
•    Studies of Society; and
•    Environment and Technology.
ABC­TV also repeated, during school hours, selected evening programmes(Australian Broadcasting Corporation (May 1995), Fact Sheet). The Magic Library, Scientific Eye and Living Australia are described as favourite educational programmes(Australian Broadcasting Corporation (May 1995), Fact Sheet). Another popular show was Behind the News, which provided

background to major news stories and attract(ed) over 800 000 primary and secondary school students viewers each week.(Australian Broadcasting Corporation (May 1995), Fact Sheet)

The following extract from the web site gives some indication of the type of programmes broadcast, at that time, for the schools’ service:

ABC­TV will screen two new series produced to support the English Curriculum Statement and Profiles for Australian Schools - Inside Out, a ten-part series for middle secondary classes and another ten-part series for upper primary/lower secondary classes. Other new ABC produced schools television include programmes exploring geographical features of Australia, a series of dramatisations of stories from popular children’s books and new episodes on Australians, a series of short documentaries presenting biographical accounts of Australian personalities.(http://www.abc.net.au)

The web site alludes to a possible cause for the suspension of the service with this statement:

With the increasing availability of video recorders and the use of support materials, such as computers, the commitment to schools broadcasting has diminished(http://www.abc.net.au) .

Australian copyright legislation allows schools to tape educational programming from both television and radio. The ABC web site states that

a wide range of educational material produced by ABC Radio is available on cassette and in print through ABC Enterprises. This allows teachers to make use of educational material at times suitable to their classroom timetables.(http://www.abc.net.au and Australian Broadcasting Corporation (May 1995), Fact Sheet)

The ABC web site lists what tapes are available. The list

of audio tapes has been organized into 9 categories; within each category…Most tapes have a recommendation for specific subjects and levels of study based on the curriculum in Australian schools.(http://www.abc.net.au/resource) 

The web site seems to be a useful place for teachers to access recordings available for order.
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Sources of Information: Literature
Technology: Radio

Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) projects have been introduced in Bolivia in a number of educational areas: health, mathematics and early childhood development. The use of radio broadcasts to support mathematics and early childhood development are described here.

Interactive radio broadcasts to support the Bolivian primary and secondary mathematics curricular, started off in 1986 as a pilot project run by a non-governmental organization, and in 1992 was adopted by the Ministry of Education and Culture as a national and official mathematics programme of Bolivia. The following extract outlines the history and development of the project:

In 1986, Fey y Alegria (FyA), A Bolivian non-governmental organization (NGO) sponsored by the Catholic church, began the process of developing and testing a powerful instructional methodology called ‘interactive radio instruction’ (IRI) (Curriculum development for Radio Math in Bolivia was modelled on IRI programmes developed in Nicaragua)to improve the quality of primary school mathematics…By 1991, the complete set of 540 lessons for grades 2-5 had been validated and the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) was considering expanding the access to all schools. With the development phase complete and implementation well underway, management of Bolivia’s Radio Learning Programme (PARI, the project’s new name) passed from FyA to the MEC; and in 1992, PARI began validating a new IRI-based preventative health curriculum for upper-primary school.(Fryer, M.L.,1995)

In 1995, approximately 600 000 primary school children had enrolled in PARI, more than 8000 teachers had been trained and certified in IRI methodology, and ‘in 1992, Radio Math achieved national recognition as ‘the official’ mathematics programme for Bolivia.’ (Fryer, M.L.,1995,p.8)

A Teachers’ Guide and training in IRI methodology supplemented the Radio Math programme. Teacher training took place over two mornings and two afternoons. The teacher training was recognised as an integral part of the programme and is described as follows:

First there was an introduction to the methodology, followed by a review of basic skills and content, then an explanation of the teachers’ role in the programme and finally a model class with children. An important part that took up almost the whole second morning was training in how to use the teachers’ guide…Once RLP became institutionalised, the MEC went on to grant leave with pay for teachers in training. Perhaps best of all, teachers who attended the initial IRI training, used IRI regularly in their classroom, and kept a post-broadcast log were rewarded with a certificate of merit at the end of the school year. School directors who regularly reviewed their teachers’ logs were also certified. When RLP/PARI became recognised as Bolivia’s official mathematics programme in 1992, the MEC valued all certificates with five points towards teachers’ promotions and pay raises.(Fryer, M.L.,1995,p.25)

Recognition for teachers who attended in the use of the radio programme was seen as important to the success of the programme.

Similar Interactive radio broadcasts were used to support early childhood development. The Bolivian public broadcaster developed radio-based learning programmes to support integrated child development centres, known as pidis.

In March 1993, ONAMFA (National Organisation for Women, Children and the Family) and the LearnTech project agreed to experiment with ways to engage young children in active play, and to stimulate early learning activities through IRI methodology.(Bosch, A & Crespo, C. ,1995)

An IRI model was created to specifically cater for the educational needs of the women caregivers who had poor literacy skills, minimal training and were caring for young children in poor peri-urban areas. The audio series that was created, targeted both audiences: young children and caregivers. This is done through a character in the series:

As each program is aired and the caregivers and children actively participate, a character, Tia Clara, points out the significance of the activities and how they can be adapted once the programme is over. (Bosch, A & Crespo, C. ,1995, p.9)

The programs were twenty minutes long focused on engaging the groups of children in creative games, stories, and role plays. Children in the Bolivian pidis were stimulated to learn through seeing, hearing, touching and interacting with each other and with materials already present in their environment(Bosch, A & Crespo, C. ,1995, p.9). A master plan was developed for the design of the broadcasts, which was found to have usefulness, beyond the planning, as ideas articulated in the Master plan were alter incorporated in a guide book. The master plan specified that each programme was to have four goals: two goals for the training of caregivers and two for the learning goals for the children. A guidebook was developed, and adapted several times in the bases of formative evaluation, to relate the broadcast program activities to child development and professional development. The following ‘important issues for IRI for Early Childhood Development’ are noted in the conclusion of the report on Bolivia’s pidi project:

•    Even though Bolivia has a history of radio education and an organised network of educational radio stations, the pidi team realised the advantages of using audiocassettes, giving the following reasons:

• ONAMFA provided each pidi with a cassette player and could assist in
• the delivery of materials;
• Repetition is important for young children;
• With the programs on the cassettes, caregivers could use it according to their own needs. many caregivers did not have watches and could not adhere to the broadcast schedule; and
• Cassettes can be reused by the pidi.

•    Initial training for caregivers on how to interpret and use the IRI package, greatly improved the use of the programs and the guidebook. Incorporating more training was noted as an important next step for the project.
•    An increased focus on learning, meant that one writer focused no the script for an entire program rather than on isolated segments. The series of activities were connected through a guiding narrative thread.
•    Teamwork and collaboration between script writer, artist, evaluation and ECD specialists were identified as key elements in the design and implementation of the project.

The pidi project has been copied and adapted for use in rural Ecuador. The report on the pidi project in Bolivia indicates that:

The Association for Training and Resources in Early Education (TREE), an NGO based in Durban South Africa, will soon be piloting a version of Jugando en el Pidi, complete with Zulu stories and characters in the Kwazulu-Natal region in South Africa in 1995.(Bosch, A & Crespo, C. ,1995, p.12)

The person contacted(Telephone conversation with a person at TREE who did not give their name, 14/7/98) at TREE confirmed that tapes that had been prepared for this project, had been sent to OLSET for processing. At the time of writing, TREE was waiting to get the tapes back. The project did not seem to be a high priority for the organisation.
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Sources of Information: Literature and correspondence
Technology: Radio

Radio has been used for distance education in Botswana since the 1960’s(Main, M.,1998). The English Time project was started in 1994 and has since its inception, been well funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)(Main, M.,1998, $875 000, from 1994-98). The project was mooted at a time when English was declared the medium of instruction, from Standard Two onwards. Main writes that:

From April 1998, the Botswana Government will assume full responsibility and carry the project alone.(Main, M.,1998, p.6)

Key success factors for the project are thought to be the insistence on using local skills, story lines and talent as well as encouraging the highest possible level of local talent. Main describes the current situation as follows:

Today, the programmes reach some 33 000 of a possible 40 000 primary school children in Botswana. At the time of writing, Radio Botswana broadcasts four hours of primary school programmes each week throughout the school year. In addition to English stories, primary school air-time includes programmes in science, social studies, current affair and religion…At present English Time programmes are for Standards 1 to 4 only.(Main, M.,1998, p.6)

The Ministry of Education has recently decided to extend the programmes through to Standard 7. The following problems, encountered by the project are reported:
•    Poor quality radio endlessly breakdown;
•    Batteries tend to be forgotten, not ordered or not delivered;
•    Some teachers lack confidence and training;
•    Script writers and producers are in short supply and also require training; and
•    More and better trained staff are needed at the Educational Broadcasting Division.(Main, M.,1998, p.6)
The staff training has been, in part, addressed by using the assistance of Swedish staff. As an example, Kerstin Jackson, a Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company staff member, has been involved in the English Time project since 1994. She has been placed in Botswana since 1996 and has been monitoring the project. Her main job has been

to educate scriptwriters and develop the work of the producers, show them how to plan and organize and follow up their work. One side effect of this project has been to educate the teachers, change their attitudes, in order to make them utilize the programmes better. This has involved a great number of workshops around the country and also involved the Teacher Training department here (in Botswana).(E-mail received from Kirsten Jackson, on 4/7/98)

Jackson describes the English Time project successes as follows:

Botswana’s Educational Broadcasting Division has got tremendous impact in the schools. Almost every child in the Primary school system listens to the school broadcasts. The English Time programmes have brought a new sound to the children. They love the programmes and they listen in school and at home. The teachers have also benefited, their English has improved and it’s easier for them to motivate the children with the help of the programmes.

A typical English Time programme is described as follows:

A session of English Time starts: ‘Hello children, hello teachers, it’s English Time for Standard two, Programme 16. Do you remember the song?’ The music begins; forty-one voices unite and nearly succeed in lifting the roof off the building. The 15-minute lesson continues with a game, a dialogue, a story or another song. Sometimes the children are asked to turn the page of their textbooks and watch the pictures as the two characters Mpho and Thabo play out some part of their daily lives.(Main, M.,1998, p.6)

From this extract, it is evident that English Time makes use of fairly extensive printed materials.
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Sources of Information: Facsimile received from Jan Donio, 7/5/98; web sites: http://www.ola.bc.ca/knowledge/nav/getconnected/index.html
http://www.tvo.org/curriculum/default2.html
Technology: Television

The Knowledge Network
The Knowledge Network is the educational television service of the Open Learning Agency.

Open School TV broadcasts from Monday to Friday from 10 am to 11 am and 2pm to 4pm…Open School TV programmes and services complement the K-12 BC (British Columbia) curriculum and are offered FREE of charge to schools and teachers throughout BC’(http://www.ola.bc.ca/knowledge/nav/getconnected/index.html5). The Knowledge Network web site can be consulted for up-to-date news, schedule changes, and detailed programme descriptions. The supporting web site for the schools service is TVOntario’s Curriculum Connections.(http://www.tvo.org/curriculum/default2.html)

The Open School television describes the use of its schools’ service as follows:

In some instances teachers can tape a programme for classroom use; in others we suggest viewing the programme as a group activity or asking students to view the programme at home.(http://www.tvo.org/curriculum/default2.html)

TV Ontario
TV Ontario is Ontario’s publicly funded educational network. It runs an interactive schools’ and teacher support service which allows for multiple technology use. It also delivers whole courses to schools or individuals. ‘TV Ontario provides curriculum programmes for primary and secondary schools (which are) available through regular and overnight downloading....New technology tools for classroom use are being developed, including laser discs and CD-ROMs, and on-line access to educational programmes and services…45 High School on air credit courses delivered in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Training’s Independent ‘.(http://www.tvo.org/who/overviewTVO/progserv.html)

The broadcast service is complemented by professional development for teachers, Internet use, print materials and distribution of audio and videocassettes. The broadcasts are used synchronously or asynchronously depending on the school timetable. Schools register for specific courses and then use the broadcasts synchronously. Where the broadcasts are used asynchronously, the recordings are organized locally.

Almost 70% of TVO and TFO(TFO is the French service) schedules are made up of children’s and distance learning programming:
•    Preschool children
•    Children at home
•    Curriculum programmes
•    Professional development for teachers
•    High School on air credit programmes
•    Credit courses for colleges and universities
•    Skills Training
•    Home Studies
TV Ontario also offers Ontario viewers a non-commercial primetime alternative to mainstream broadcasters.(http://www.tvo.org/who/overviewTVO/basfacts.html)

TV Ontario offers a number of online services:

•   Curriculum Connections is a TVO service which aims to be
a simple way for students, and teachers to use TVO’s daytime and prime-time schedule and materials available on tape (and) to make relevant connections between a variety of appealing programmes and the K-OAC day-to-day curriculum in the classroom’(http://www.tvo.org/curriculum/default2.html).
The programmes in the Curriculum Connections web site are listed very roughly by the age group for which activities are suggested. (Some programmes offer opportunities for more than one age range). The programme schedule appears with suggested pre- and post-viewing activities. What follows is an example of a programme description that is on the web site. It has been included to illustrate how TV Ontario intends the programme to be used:
Take Off (Programme Name)
Child actors, animation, artwork, music, humour, science, and storytelling encourage 6­11 year olds to develop their innate creativity through lateral thinking. The series may be taped through the TVO Overnight Taping Service Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays until March 10.
Curriculum: language, creative thinking, grades 1-6
Work: Monday, March 2, at 4:00 am.
The children confront Tobias the developer who is intending to build apartments on their special plot of land.
Pre-viewing activity: Write a list of the things you like and don’t like about your neighbourhood.
Post-viewing activity: Make a class list of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ things about your neighbourhood. How would the addition of an apartment, factory, or large supermarket change your neighbourhood? How would you make the neighbourhood more interesting, safe, fun.
•   Galaxy Classrooms is a synchronous broadcast, facsimile and telephone service offered to teachers and students. Users are expected to record the broadcasts and respond to questions via facsimile. A range of professional development and teacher support initiatives is part of the service.
•   Virtual Classroom is a new service which ‘makes it easy for students and teachers to interact with experts, professionals and famous individuals in ways that link with curriculum standards and expectations’.(http://www2.tvo.org/vclass/)
•   Curriculine Project is
the online interface of TVO’s Curriculum Project. This project links TVO’s programming and other resources to learning outcomes of the Ontario Common Curriculum. It also provides valuable insights for teachers, parents, students, and other educational partners around the world.(http://www.tvo.org/curriculine/default.html)
•   Professional Development Television is described as
state-of-the-art professional development programmes for teachers, including province-wide, satellite-delivered teleconferences.(http://www.tvo.org/who/overviewTVO/progserv.html)
•   The Ontario Educational Software Service is a searchable database of educational resources. Resources can be located by title, subject, computer platform and language.(http://www.tvo.org/tango/oess/softwareSearch.qry?function=form)

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Sources of Information: Literature
Technology: Television

Kenworthy describes the Central China Television broadcasts as follows:

Central China TV (CCTV) provides 32 hours of educational broadcasting a day covering all levels on two dedicated channels…Reception is either direct, through retransmission or by playing cassettes at work places or learning centres. Broadcasts are widely used for direct teaching, neglecting the presentational attributes of television. There is very little support materials due to problems of availability and the logistical difficulties of printing and distribution.(Kenworthy, B.,1996)

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Sources of Information: Literature
Technology: Radio

In 1991, a project designed to use radio to teach the national curriculum for environmental education, at the fourth and fifth grade levels, was started in Costa Rica. The program aimed to instil a positive attitude and to stimulate action, rather than basic ecological concepts. The Costa Rica broadcasts did

not stick closely to the conversation format [of interactive radio instruction] Instead, they encourage(d) active learning by means of participating in real-life rather than classroom activities….it (offered) hands-on activities outside of the classroom rather than within it.(Moulton, M. (1994). Interactive radio instruction: Broadening the definition. Washington: LearnTech. p. 22)

Focusing on attitudinal and behavioural change, rather than teaching cognitive skills, had implications for evaluation and instructional design that were different to Interactive Radio Instruction programmes on which the Costa Rica project was modelled.(Interactive Radio Instruction projects in Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea and Kenya were already in operation when the Costa Rica project was initiated)

Sources of Information: Literature and web sites
Technology: Radio

The Caribbean in general
Research into the use of radio as an educational technology in the Caribbean was conducted in 1992. In Caribbean countries formal educational programming is delegated to a unit within the Ministry of Education. The radio stations merely provide the broadcast time(Deodat, R., 1992). The following extract summarises the research findings:

In the majority of Caribbean countries, there has been some attempt to use radio in formal classroom or supplementary classroom in the ‘broadcasting to schools model’. Such broadcasts were themselves supplemented by printed material in the form of notes, illustrations and teachers’ guides. At the time of the research, three countries, St. Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia and Dominica, had stopped these broadcasts altogether with no date fixed for their resumption. Two others, Jamaica and Barbados had suspended such broadcasts ‘temporarily’ to allow for production of more ‘up-to-date’ programmes. Only four of the twelve, Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and a scaled down St Vincent and the Grenadines, reported having ongoing programmes.(Deodat, R., 1992, p.81)

Descriptions of the schools’ broadcasts in some of the Caribbean countries have been included to give further detail.

Barbados
The only formal education programme carried on radio in Barbados is the schools’ broadcasts, prepared and produced by the Ministry of Education and carried on the cable service of Barbados Rediffusion.(Deodat, R., 1992, p.16)

These programmes took the form of broadcasts for students in primary schools, since the early 1970’s. The schools broadcasts are accompanied by teachers’ notes and posters, and, in some cases, students’ worksheets. The programmes were intimately linked to the schools’ curriculum, and were scripted and often voiced by selected teachers. The programmes were suspended in 1990, because of the age of the existing programmes - many were over five years old. A new curriculum was introduced at this time, and the programmes needed updating. A news article, found on the Internet(http://www.tbwt.com/articles/carib/carib168.htm), stated that Barbados Rediffusion died 31 years after independence due to financial difficulties and the age of the broken and old equipment.

BELIZE
The following extract from the Caribbean research report reflects the type of programmes broadcast by the schools’ service in Belize:

In Belize, Radio Belize carries the only formal educational programmes on radio. These are two fifteen minute programmes each school day, broadcast five days per week and produced by the Ministry of Education… The Ministry of Education through the Schools’ Broadcasting Unit in the Curriculum Development Division develops and produces the broadcasts to school programmes, which are carried every school day by Radio Belize. Broadcast to schools has been continuos in Belize for over thirty years. The programmes are developed over four levels of the Primary schools…. covering subjects such as:

•    English,
•    Social Sciences,
•    Rhymes and Rhythms
for the kindergarten and infant levels, and,
•    English,
•    Spanish,
•    Social Studies and
•    Listen and Write
for junior and senior levels. All the programmes are based on the ‘core’ curriculum guides prepared by the ministry and used by all the schools in the country.(Deodat, R., 1992, p.22-24)

Guyana
In 1993, the Ministry of Education produced Guyana’s schools’ broadcasts. As I was unable to establish whether the broadcasts are still being produced, I will be using the past tense. Programmes were broadcast by the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC). The programmes are described as being ‘firmly fixed to the schools’ curriculum. They (ran) for half-hour each day (sic), Monday to Friday.(Deodat, R., 1992, p.34)’ The Broadcasts to Schools Division (of the Education ministry) was responsible for scripting, producing and presenting the daily classroom programmes. These were aimed at both primary and secondary schools, and carried on the GBC during regular school hours. The division produced nearly all its programmes in its own studio. The programmes covered subject areas such as:
•    Science;
•    Language Arts;
•    Social Studies;
•    Agriculture; and
•    Music.
The Broadcast to Schools Division also prepared and distributed broadcast schedules and teachers’ notes(Deodat, R., 1992, p.35). Besides the primary and secondary schools’ broadcast, a series called Talking about Education was produced by the Ministry of Education. The series was broadcast on GBC, during primetime on weekdays, and aimed at adults as well as students in the upper forms of high schools.

Topics dealt with on these programmes vary from time to time and include
•    French and Spanish for beginners;
•    excerpts from speeches from policy makers in the field of education;
•    coverage of graduation exercises of various educational institutions;
•    a TAE magazine programme;
•    drug awareness education;
•    focus on AIDS and other topical subjects; and
•    music - both classical and Guyanese folk music.(Deodat, R., 1992, p.36)

Jamaica
Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) has for many years, starting as far back as the sixties, carried a Monday-to-Friday ‘Broadcast to Schools’ programme aimed at both primary and secondary levels. These programmes were carefully tied to the schools’ curriculum and were clearly supplementary to work planned and done in the classroom. A special unit in the Ministry of Education along with notes and guides for teachers produced the programmes. Early in 1990, however, the transmission of these programmes was discontinued…JBC contends that, due to age, the actual physical quality of some tapes, apart from their contents, disqualified them for broadcast(Deodat, R., 1992, p.39). Supplementary materials, such as teachers’ guides, workbooks and charts that are essential parts of the radio programmes, were also provided.

St Kitts-Nevis
ZIZ Radio is state owned and shares its studio facilities and staff with ZIZ TV…ZIZ has been the carrier of broadcasts to schools on St Kitts-Nevis since the inception of the programmes in 1977. These schools’ programmes were part of a planned series produced by the Schools Broadcasting Unit of the Ministry of Education. There were nine 15-minute programmes per week. They dealt with various subjects on the Primary School curriculum and were supported by teachers’ notes and guides for interactive questions and answers. The Ministry of Education suspended these formal supplementary classroom programmes in 1989(Deodat, R., 1992, p.50). This was due to problems with equipment and a shortage of production staff in the Schools Broadcasting Unit.

St Vincent and the Grenadines
National Broadcasting Systems (NBC) has a formal Broadcast to Schools programme produced by the Ministry of Education and based on the Primary school curriculum(Deodat, R., 1992, p.53). This extract from the research report describes the service:

The Education Media Unit of the Ministry of Education is responsible for the scripting, producing, presenting and recording of the Schools Broadcasting Programmes which are transmitted on NBC Radio… During our visit (July 1991) These programmes were being broadcast two days per week, between 9.45 and 10.a.m. for students in schools and repeated at 5.00 p.m. for parents to follow with their children at home. The programmes were formerly broadcast five days per week, but due to a shortage of staff the unit was forced to cut back on the number of subjects they dealt with.’(Deodat, R., 1992, p.55)

The unit takes responsibility for the production of teachers’ guides that are sent out prior to the broadcast, and make visits to the schools for the purpose of evaluation and discussions with teachers. The subjects normally dealt with are Science, Health Education, Language Arts, and Social Studies, all of which are based on the Primary school curriculum.

Trinidad and Tobago
Radio Trinidad carried ‘Broadcasts to Schools’ programmes since these began in 1960. A clear description of the service was given in the 1992 research report:

The schools’ programmes are sometimes direct classroom teaching and sometimes supplementary to a topic introduced by the in-class teacher. The programmes are transmitted three days per week in two fifteen-minute segments, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon… National Broadcasting Services NBS-610 Radio also carried the broadcast to schools programmes referred to earlier, on the same days and times that they were carried by Radio Trinidad hence ensuring a much larger audience for this programme.(Deodat, R., 1992, p.58-60)

The Schools’ Broadcasting Unit of the Ministry of Education was fully responsible for scripting and producing all broadcasts to schools programmes. This Unit was also responsible for developing and distributing, to nearly 500 schools in Trinidad and Tobago, all the supplementary material which accompanied these broadcasts, such as broadcast schedules, teachers’ notes and charts…The unit also provides a cassette copy service. Schools can request and receive, free of charge, programmes already broadcast, which they might wish to use again. There are frequent visits to schools during the school term by the Supervisor and Senior Broadcast Officers in order to obtain first hand feedback from teachers. A formal feedback card is also sent to each school for each week of schools broadcast in a given term. These are received by the unit at the end of each school term and are studies with a view to acting on feasible suggestions for the next batch of productions.(Deodat, R., 1992, p.61)
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Sources of information: Facsimile from Mrs Zita Drdova
Technology: Television
Czech Television broadcasts a variety of programmes for pre-primary, primary and secondary schools. Mrs Drdova does not consider the service to be complemented with non-broadcast services, although it does make videocassettes available and intends to make use of the Internet in the near future. There is synchronous and asynchronous use of schools’ broadcasts. The broadcasts intended for synchronous viewing are advertised via school radio, special magazines, and tele-text. The recordings of schools’ broadcasts are organized by teachers. The most successful series are thought to be:
•    a pre-school encyclopaedia;
•    The Little Building Blocks;
•    World You Scare Me;
•    a programme about an HIV positive young man; and
•    Disco Latine - an ‘unusual language programme’.(Facsimile received from Mrs Zita Drdova’, 15/4/98)
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Sources of Information: Literature
Technology: Radio

A Radio- Assisted Community Basic Education (RADECO) project was initiated in Barahona, Dominican Republic, in 1981(Eshgh R, Hoxeng J et al. (1988), Radio- Assisted Community Basic Education (RADECO), Unites States of America Agency for International Development, Office of Education, Bureau for Science and Technology, Pittsburgh: Dequesne University Press). It went on air in 1983(Agency for International Development.,1988). Daily interactive radio broadcasts, of an hour each, were given in the following areas:
•    instruction in reading;
•    writing;
•    maths;
•    music and games; and
•    natural and social science were given.
This core curriculum was broadcast to children at 4p.m., after their workday had ended. A radio monologue was replaced with a learning dialogue. There was no two-way transmission, but rather pauses were left for student response, before the correct answer was given.(Agency for International Development.,1988)

RADECO created an infrastructure of modest shelters built by villagers which were used as learning centres…Children congregated at these shelters late in the day, when they were free of chores. Radioauxiliaries, or paraprofessional teachers, distributed print materials to accompany the radio lesson, turned on the radio and did what they could to help the children follow the lesson.(Moulton, J. Op crit. p.23)

It was felt that this group structure and learning environment contributed to the project’s success in meeting instructional goals.
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Sources in information: Literature
Technology: Radio

In the 1990’s, Learning Technologies for Basic Education (LearnTech) developed an Interactive Radio Instruction language programme in Guatemala. This was a Spanish language programme for elementary school students who used Mayan languages at home. The Guatemalan IRI approach was a shift away from the aural-oral method. In these programmes

radio (was) not used as a mass language lab. Instead….students (could) express their own thoughts and construct their own phrases. The radio characters (called) on individual students to perform and activity rather than asking for a chorus of responses. The radio teacher (instructed) students in how to interact with each other.(Moulton, J. Op crit. p.27)

This shift in IRI instructional design is thought to have given the classroom teacher a more important role.
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Sources of information: Literature
Technology: Radio
In 1987, an Interactive Radio Instruction curriculum, titled a Family of Numbers, was developed in Honduras. The radio curriculum was designed to enable teachers to use the broadcasts with or without the accompanying textbooks, and aimed to teach mental algorithms. It differed from the Nicaraguan Radio Mathematics programme, in that it aimed to complement the mathematics textbook, rather than replace it. Also a more active role was given to the classroom teacher and more dramatic context for learning was used.(Moulton, J. Op crit. p.26)
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Sources of Information: Literature, correspondence
Technology: Television and radio
Indian educational broadcasting is described as using both radio and television extensively.

The bulk of the production for primary and school and teacher education is produced by the Central Institute for Educational technology and by the growing number of State Institutes for Educational Technology. Utilisation is variable depending on electrification, availability of working radios or television sets and teacher access to schedule and transmission information.(Agency for International Development.,1988)

All India Radio, which is a subsidiary of Prassar Bharti (Broadcasting Corporation of India) broadcasts programmes for schools, and school teachers, from 55 stations. The educational programmes are usually recorded by students, teachers or officials of the education department. The programmes are not complemented with non-broadcasting services(All India Radio information, is based on a letter received from T. Dolkar Kawoo, Director General of All India Radio, 19/6/98). While All India Radio’s caters for schooling, another broadcaster services higher education. The Consortium for Educational Communication runs a broadcast programme

which is enrichment based which support (sic) both students and teachers on higher education…It is being broadcast 16 hours a week on India’s Doordarshan National Network through terrestrial transmission which is being received by more than 1000 transmitters all over the country…[The consortium does] not cater to school level.(Chaudhri, M. Facsimile received, 17/6/1998)

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Sources of Information: Literature
Technology: Radio and television
Kenworthy describes the Indonesian schools’ service as follows:

The Ministry of Education and Culture in Indonesia has a specialist educational technology unit called the Centre for Communication Technology for Education and Culture (PUSTEKKOM). This unit produces radio and television programmes for Junior and Senior Secondary Schools…The main TV transmission is through a commercial education channel, however the national broadcasters also carry some schools programmes…(Kenworthy, B.,1996)

A 1994 report, on changes in the conception on Interactive Radio Instruction describes some developments in Indonesia and Sri Lanka:

interactive media -though not radio - have been used to train teachers in Indonesia and Sri Lanka to train teachers in Indonesia. Pilot programmes in these countries are exploring the use of print materials, periodic contact sessions, and audiocassettes to train teachers in subject matter and pedagogy. The programmes are aimed in particular at helping teachers present student-centred instruction and manage multi-grade classrooms…. Preliminary research has revealed that the programmes with more interactive sessions (contact sessions and written assignments that are graded and returned) are more effective than programmes without these components.(Moulton, J. Op crit. p.25)

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Sources of information: Literature, NHK research documents, and web site.
Technology: Radio and television
The Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) began educational radio broadcasts in 1935 and educational television in 1953.(Sachiko Imaizumi KODAIRA, Studies on Educational Broadcasting for Schools and Children in Japan, NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute p. 1)

NHK is the sole public service broadcasting organization in Japan, and it is financed with fees collected from its audience...Educational programmes are broadcast on the Educational TV Channel (ETV) and Radio 2 Network.(NHK., 1995, p.2)

The schools broadcasts are described as:

programmes intended for use in the classes at primary schools, junior and senior high school, covering a wide variety of subjects including science, social studies, arithmetic, Japanese language, music, moral education and so on. In addition there are also programmes designed for teachers which provide information on the content and methods of school education…School broadcasts constitute the core of educational broadcasts, and are characterised by presentation of teaching materials not available in ordinary classroom lessons. They are compiled under NHK’s own curriculum, to make the best use of the audio-visual nature of radio and television. (NHK., 1995, p.3)

The main goals of schools broadcasts are listed as being:
•    To arouse the children’s intellectual interest;
•    To appeal to children’s sensitivities to cultivate emotions and behaviours;
•    To give children an understanding of things they have not experienced;
•    To develop on-going study, linked to subsequent learning activities.(NHK., 1995, p.3)

The School Broadcast schedule for 1995, shows that there were broadcasts between 9 a.m. and 12 noon and from 12 p.m. to 1 a.m. Most programmes were fifteen minutes long. Schools broadcasts were schedule from Monday to Saturday, for the morning slot, and on weekdays for the late night slot. The intended school age group follows the title of each programme.(NHK., 1995, p.4)
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Sources of Information: Literature
Technology: Radio
A USAID project using radio broadcasts for reading and language arts, was carried out by the Academy of Educational Development in Kenya from 1980 to 1985.

Radio instruction was offered in rural classrooms with the aim of teaching English to children in the first three grades….The Radio Language Arts Project (RLAP) had a half-hour lesson broadcast every school day at 9:30 am. The broadcasts depended heavily on the illusion created of a radio-world filled with different characters. It also depended heavily on the classroom teacher, who prepared the blackboard, identified the day’s special participants, and presented regular complementary lessons, and on supplementary materials for writing and reading.(Agency for International Development.,1988)

RLAP was based strongly on the Interactive Radio Instruction programmes developed in Nicaragua. The principles of language instruction relied on

an aural-oral (listening speaking) method, which…called for extensive drill and practice of sounds, words, phrases and sentences….Radio Language Arts lessons included rapid-paced conversations in English between the radio teacher and the students in chorus.(Moulton, J. Op crit. p.25)

Although strong similarities are apparent, some important differences between Radio Mathematics, in Nicaragua, and RLAP, in Kenya have been noted:(Moulton, J. Op crit. p.25)
•    short stories and drama’s were used, not just as means of getting students’ attention, but as an integral part of the language lesson;
•    games and song were used, not just to provide a break, but as part of the language learning process; and
•    the classroom teacher was a more integral part of the learning process.
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Sources of Information: Web sites www.megatv.com.my, www.ntv7.com.my, www.tv3.com.my, and www.discovery.com, e-mail received from Wayne Liew 10/4/98 and 29/4/98
Technology: Television
Malaysia has a number of public television channels: RTM1, RTM2, TV3, Metrovision and, the newly launched, NTV7(E-mail received from Wayne Liew 29/4/98).

•      NTV7 is Malaysia’s newly launched commercial television channel. It does not seem to have a specific education or schools focus but they do have news, documentaries and children’s programmes.(http://www.ntv7.com.my/)
•     Malaysia also has a subscription television network called MegaTV, which offers six channels(E-mail received from Wayne Liew 10/4/98).. The education channel offered is the Discovery Channel that has a specific Schools Discovery Channel (http://www.discovery.com and http://www.school.discovery.com)and will be discussed under the Unites States of America as it aims to cater for the K12 curriculum.
•     ‘Most ‘educational’ programmes such as Sesame Street and children (sic) quiz shows are shown on our (Malaysia’s) free television channels’(http://www.discovery.com and http://www.school.discovery.com). Neither NTV7 nor TV3 seem to have a specific schools service(http://www.ntv7.com.my, http://www.tv3.com.my). TV3 is Malaysia’s first private television station(http://www.tv3.com.my). It has an educational section called Akademi-TV3 that offers various broadcasting related diplomas, certified courses and training programmes.(http://www.tv3.com.my/Akademi_TV3/pro.htmll)

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Sources of information: Literature
Technology: Radio

During the 1980’s, interactive radio lessons were used to train teachers in Nepal.

To improve the skills of uncertified teachers, a training programme which relied heavily on radio instruction but also used print and monthly sessions in which trainees met with experienced teachers. The programmes were aimed at in-service teachers whose own primary education was incomplete or weak, and the curricular included both subject matter and pedagogical skills.(Moulton, J. Op crit. p.24)

The programs mainly consisted of short lectures followed by a few questions which students were asked to answer. Students did not gather in groups to listen to the programmes, but were expected to tune into the radio broadcasts and to work with the print materials on their own. Logistical problems and difficulties encountered in developing an institutional base resulted in an immense chasm between program designs and their implementation. Evaluations of these programmes were only mildly positive.(Moulton, J. Op crit. p.25)
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Sources of Information: Literature, web site, and e-mail communication with Kees Schippers (General Manager Youth Education Teleac/NOT
Technology: Television

The following extract describes Teleac/NOT, the educational broadcaster in the Netherlands:

Teleac/NOT is producing television for adults and school. We have our own research and publishing department. The non-broadcasting services include: books, teachers’ guides, worksheets, CD ROMS, Internet use, video distribution, audiocassettes etc. The school broadcasts are used partly as live broadcasts and partly as recordings…Its important for the channel to be on during day-time (promotion), otherwise you are banned to night time. Most of the schools tape our programmes as well. All secondary schools are recording the series. Broadcasts for synchronous viewing (have been) scheduled at the same time for many years, so the teachers are used to the same broadcast time. They watch the programmes at school. The schoolteachers or parents manage the recordings. We are not involved in it.(Schippers Kees, e-mail received 21/4/98)

Schippers thinks that teleac/NOT’s most successful intervention has been its Magazines series. These are weekly transmissions throughout the school year. The series consist of 32 programmes. Weekly ratings have shown that 60-80% of all primary schools watch this series. The least successful programme was thought to be a series on religious education as ‘schools don’t need that kind of thing’.(Schippers Kees, e-mail received 21/4/98)

Research into education television in the Netherlands has been conducted for almost thirty years(Schippers Kees, e-mail received 21/4/98). One such Dutch research project has been run on a six-programme school television series designed to teach children, aged 10-12, that television news broadcasts give a selective and thus subjective and incomplete impression of the news(Vooijs M.W, van der Voort T.H.A & Hoogeweij, 1995). The Dutch School Television Corporation (NOT) designed the series in cooperation with the Centre for Child and Media Studies, Leiden University. The series was called News a Question of Choice and was a follow up series to Another View on TV violence.(Vooijs M.W, van der Voort T.H.A & Hoogeweij, 1995, p.23) Another news programme, specifically intended for children, the Children’s News, is broadcast almost daily. This programme presents the news in a style designed to be understandable to children. Also, Dutch Schools television broadcasts a weekly schools TV news programme, in which a number of news items are examined in depth. This programme is watched in about half of the elementary schools in the Netherlands(Vooijs M.W, van der Voort T.H.A & Hoogeweij, 1995, p.23).
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Sources of Information: Literature
Technology: Radio

Nicaragua Radio Mathematics was a USAID programme(This Interactive Radio Programme was used to model the USAID models in Kenya and the Dominican Republic also mentioned in this document. Similar projects were run in Thailand (Radio Math), Papua New Guinea (Radio Science), and for English as a second language in Lesotho, Swaziland and Belize (AID, Interactive Radio Instruction. Confronting Crisis in Basic Education, p.4) ), which began in Nicaragua in 1974. It originated at Stanford University with the cooperation of the Ministry of Education, and ran for five years. The Stanford University professors, involved in initiating the project, had done extensive research in computer-aided instruction and adapted computer-student responses to radio-student interaction(Moulton, J. Op crit. p.15). Radio was brought into existing classrooms and was used only for primary school mathematics. It involved a number of radio-student questions, calling for out-loud student responses two or three times a minute:(Eshgh R and Hoxeng J.,1988)

During the broadcast the radio, functioned as an assistant to the teacher. But after the radio lesson had ended the, the teacher was fully in charge of the post-broadcast activities. In multi-grade classrooms in Nicaragua RMN (Radio Mathematics Project in Nicaragua) broadcasts freed the teacher to attend to the needs of children in other grades when first grades listened to their lessons…(Agency for International Development.,1988)

Multi-grade classrooms, impacted ion the instructional design of the programmes as

Radio Mathematics was designed so that once the teacher had turned on the radio, she was not required to help with the radio lesson.(Moulton, J. Op crit. p.16)

Student worksheets were used, and referred to, during the broadcast. The success of Radio Mathematics lead to subsequent pilot projects in language arts, in Kenya, and science, in Papua New Guinea.(Moulton, J. Op crit. p.15)
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Sources of information: Literature
Technology: Radio

During the 1980’s the Ministry of Education in Papua New Guinea guided a Radio Science Pilot project, for grades four to six. The Ministry directed the Radio Science staff to use inquiry and hands-on teaching methods. This directive posed

an instructional design challenge of conducting a dialogue between radio teacher and students in which the teacher asked more open ended questions and the students were given more latitude in how they expressed themselves [in comparison to other Interactive Radio Instruction techniques].(Moulton, J. Op crit. p.18-19)

The problem was a result of there being more than one response possible and differing amounts of time were required to express the various responses, and was overcome by adapting the questioning technique.(One needs to regard the methods through which, the ‘problem’ of individual and varied responses, was overcome, with caution. Guiding students though a problem solving recipe, which is apparent in this extract, is not necessarily much different to questioning techniques that anticipate a single ‘correct answer’)

The program designers met this [instructional design] challenge by developing a questioning technique that guided students in small increments through the problem-solving process. After each question, they provided a musical interlude for 30 to 45 seconds for students to think about answer to the question. After the interlude, the radio teacher either directed the classroom teacher to select one student to answer the question, directed the students to discuss their answers in pairs, or did not expect any vocal response. Then the radio teacher returned and said, ‘You may have answered …’ followed by several appropriate answers to the questions and a brief discussion of why those were the correct answers.

An additional challenge was to provide opportunities for the students to conduct hands-on activities. Distributing material in kits was found to be difficult and instead instructions on how to create kits from household materials were given. In guiding the children through hands on activities

the radio programme used several techniques: Sometimes the radio-teachers gave instructions directly to the children; sometimes they helped the class-room teacher give step-by-step instructions to the students. Sometimes a ‘dry lab’ was conducted in which the radio characters -teachers and students -participated in the activities during the broadcast lesson. Following the broadcast, classroom teachers helped their own students repeat the activity using the materials at hand.(Moulton, J. Op crit. p.19)

The Radio Science realised the importance of the classroom teacher in the programme and as a result, increasingly involved the teacher in radio lessons, and pre- and post-broadcast activities. This demanded increased support for teachers and

eventually the programme designers began broadcasting supplementary help for teachers. Twice a week in the evening, special lessons were broadcast for teachers to help them prepare for the next day’s lessons.(Moulton, J. Op crit. p.20)

Funds for Radio Science were severely cut in 1989, resulting in less experimentation in the forms of interactivity. In 1990, the Papua New Guinea Government installed a new transmitter and restored eroding capacity in educational radio. At the same time, the National Department of Education approved policy decisions to broadcast Radio Science nation-wide and then to adopt Radio Science as the national curriculum. Print support materials, in the form of a teacher’s guide and student handbooks, have been created. In addition brief in-service workshops were also run to support teachers when Radio Science was launched on a national scale. Audiocassettes designed for training teachers were also made available(Olsson, M.,1994).
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Sources of Information: Meeting with Dr Buddhi Weersinghe (director of educational technology at the Open University of Sri Lanka), literature.
Technology: Radio and television

Sri Lanka has six television, and about four radio, channels. All of these offer some educational programmes in a non-structured way. The state-owned public television broadcaster is Sri Lanka Rupavahini, while the state-owned radio is Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. Both have a separate education section which co-ordinates educational programmes that are usually of a general nature. Dr Weersinghe estimates that about 1-2 hours each day is dedicated to children’s programmes on both radio and television. Curriculum oriented television programmes are broadcast mostly in the school vacations. The educational television production is done with teachers, by Sri Lanka Rupavahini and, is linked to the Ministries of Education and of Media. The National Institute of Education is responsible for the teacher training via distance education and for curriculum support for primary and secondary schools. It is government funded and trains teachers in video and audio production. Some of the material produced by the teachers and teachers-in-training is used by Sri Lanka Rupavahini. The format of the educational programmes varies with documentaries, lectures, and discussion programmes being common. Recently discussion programmes on the content for the University entrance examinations have been broadcast. These have had limited phone-in interaction. Dr Weersinghe did not think that this was effective as, people who may have needed to have a question answered, may not have had a telephone. Negotiations with a Japanese company to start a separate educational television channel, are currently underway. Should this channel be established, the Open University and the National Institute of Education would be given air time for their own broadcasts.

Non-formal educational radio broadcasts have been broadcast in Sri Lanka since 1927. The state radio has recently restructured to have a separate educational channel called ‘Educational Service Channel’. Programmes are generally for incidental learning. Radio programmes for language teaching (both Tamil and English) for low level professionals, who may want to improve their language skills for their work, seem to have been popular. The programmes are not part of a structured language course, but have been designed for incidental learning. Educational radio tends to be discussions (either panel or phone-ins) on topics of interest to parents, teachers and students. There are also short programmes on ‘value inculcation’. Children’s stories and theatre radio programmes, which are broadcast in the evenings, have been well received. This has been particularly successful with pre-primary school children. In some programmes children are brought into the studio and contribute to the production.

Printed schedules of educational radio and television broadcasts are distributed to schools, but no other non-broadcasting support is given. At one stage printed notes were distributed to support secondary schools curriculum broadcasts. This did not last long, probably as a result of financial constraints.(This cause was postulate by Dr Weersinghe)

Educational broadcasting has not been generally well received in Sri Lanka. Despite various efforts to get schools equipped with televisions and radios, the broadcasts do not seem to be widely used. Only about 10% of schools in Sri Lanka have reported making use of educational broadcasts(This is a rough estimate by Dr Weersinghe who was not sure of the exact figures given in a recent research report). In the late 1970’s a state sponsored project to get schools equipped, and for students to stay for broadcasts in the afternoons, was soon discontinued due to a lack of attendance. Dr Weersinghe does not think that lack of equipment is the major inhibiting factor, but that the quality of the material may be the main problem.

The use of audiocassettes, print and period contact sessions to train teachers in Sri Lanka, has been referred to elsewhere in this report(An extract, referring to development in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, has been included in the description of Indonesia, see Moulton, J. Op crit. p.25). It should be sufficient to note here that audiocassettes were selected over radio broadcasts.

Sources of Information: Web sites
Technology: Radio and television
The Swedish Educational Broadcasting Corporation or Sveriges Utbildningsradio, which is often referred to as UR, describes itself as:

a designer, producer, broadcaster and distributor of educational materials in Sweden. UR is one of three companies that make up Sweden’s public broadcasting system… UR broadcasts on both public TV channels and on Sweden’s four public radio channels as well as on Teletext TV…UR is also fully equipped with advanced modern technical facilities for terrestrial and satellite transmissions and is introducing digital radio and TV broadcasts during 1997. UR has its own publishing house. (Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company: http://www.ur.se/)

The way in which UR distributes and makes available its products is interesting:

Sweden has a network of municipal audio-visual media centres that make UR’s products available to schools and other educational organizations. Within this network UR arranges educational activities in conjunction with programmes...UR´s programmes are available to borrow from public libraries in Sweden. Teachers or study group leaders can borrow UR programmes at one of the approximately 60 audio-visual centres scattered throughout Sweden. Nearly 7,000 programmes from UR are available.(Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company: http://www.ur.se/)

It seems to be financed through legislated television licensing:

UR is financed through a user fee that each household with one or more TV-sets pays in Sweden. The size of the fee and the amount of it that goes to public broadcasting is determined by Sweden’s Parliament. For the year 1997 UR gets about 250 million Swedish crowns for its operation.(Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company: http://www.ur.se/)

The relative weighting of radio and television broadcasts are made clear in this statement:
UR broadcasts at least 700 hours of TV annually and 1700 hours of radio, of which approximately 900 are broadcast regionally.

•    The programmes (sic) deal with many subject areas - for example,
•    languages;
•    nature;
•    the environment;
•    culture;
•    society;
•    economics;
•    technology; and
•    telecommunications.(Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company: http://www.ur.se/)

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British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Sources of information: Web site http://www.bbc.co.uk, BBC Digital Service Provision: http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/digital.htm, BBC Producers Guidelines for 1996: http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/editorial/prodg1/contents.htm, e-mail communication with Jay Johnston, BBC Education catalogues
Technology: Television and radio

BBC education started broadcasting in 1924. Currently, schools television programmes are broadcast on BBC2(BBC Education), in two time slots: 02h00- 04h00 and 09h10 - 12h30(E-mail received from Jay Johnston, 22/4/98), on weekdays. School radio programmes are currently broadcast on Radio 3 FM (BBC Education)from 03h00(E-mail received from Jay Johnston, 22/4/98). The school service programmes are catalogued with the recommended age group and a description. The school and radio broadcast services are supported by

•     resources - such as teacher’s notes, books, posters, wall charts, resource packs, activity packs, photocopy-masters, school radio tapes, audio cassettes, video packs, software;
•    the Internet - the BBC Learning Station web site(BBC Education); and
•    and various services - BBC Education officers, BBC Education Information, and Ceefax(E-mail received from Jay Johnston, 22/4/98). These services are described in this extract:

Ceefax is the BBC Teletext service which gives all television listings and information about educational issues and series. Subtitles for deaf children are available with many BBC Schools programmes through this service…There are six (BBC) education officers based in London, covering primary and secondary curriculum areas… There are three in Scotland and one in Wales. They are in regular contact with schools, teachers and teacher training establishments. There are six school (BBC) representatives in England who visit schools and show new products at lunch-times or after school.(E-mail received from Jay Johnston, 22/4/98)

Like Australia, in the United Kingdom ‘educational establishments may lawfully make recordings provided they are licensed by the Educational recording Agency(ERA)’(BBC Education). Jay Johnston states that ‘approximately 50% of UK primary schools watch live and 50% watch recordings’. She explains that for primary schools:

young children … enjoy having their own broadcast and watching live and so schools plan their timetable to watch series at certain times each week. When several classes want to watch the same programme then schools record and use (the cassettes) later. Many primary schools build up a library of videocassettes which they use for several years. Primary school radio programmes are used in recorded form since they are transmitted at night.(E-mail received from Jay Johnston, 22/4/98)

In secondary school the broadcasts are used in recorded form.

The complexity of the secondary school timetable does not allow live use and for most programmes this would not be considered effective use. Again most schools build up a library of programmes on videocassette.(E-mail received from Jay Johnston, 22/4/98)

The recording of programmes is not centrally co-ordinated and varies from school to school.

In primary schools the teacher and her pupils will usually go to the television room. The programme will also be recorded…Most schools record their own programmes. How this is done varies from school to school and from region to region. In primary schools it is usually a teacher who has this responsibility but sometimes an assistant Head Teacher (is responsible for this). In secondary schools it can be done centrally or by each department. Some local authorities have a recording service for all schools.

BBC Education has run a series for school-based in-service training for teachers, called Teaching Today. It is described in the 1994-95 BBC education catalogue as being suitable for ‘individual, group and whole staff viewing’. The programmes:

address major issues of curriculum development and school organization, and a wide range of educational issues of interest to teachers and governors. Broadcasts are supported by practical booklets which give an outline of the programme content, suggest points for discussion and offer advice for setting realistic goals for development…Teaching Today is broadcast twice a week, on Monday mornings and Tuesday lunch times to make live viewing possible, However, programmes are most valuable recorded and used by heads or curriculum co-ordinators to lead curriculum meetings or loaned to colleagues for individual viewing….Details of Teaching Today programmes are given on special wall charts, sent to schools prior to the beginning of each term.(BBC Education)

BBC Education has started exploring the use of digital technology for its school service. A BBC consultative document described these possibilities:

Education will be one of the key areas to benefit from digital technology…An important offering will be a new service designed to provide a stream of information and educational software 24 hours a day. This will be available once the necessary set-top box technology is ready, probably by mid 1998. It will provide text in support of programmes or educational software which can be used either at the same time as a BBC programme is being watched, or ‘off-line’ and therefore not tied to simultaneous viewing of the programme….Educational material will be transmitted as part of the BBC’s service of Information Choice, initially as non-interactive text and graphics.(http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/digital.htm: The BBC’s Digital Service Proposition: A consultation document)

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Sources of information: Literature, e-mails received from Paul Ashton, 7/4/98 and 23/4/98, letter received from Simon Fuller May 1998, web site http://www.channel4.com/njs/schools_indexnj.html
Technology: Television
A broad sense of the educational service of Channel 4 is given in its recently revised licence statement:

The key elements of the Channel’s programme policy will be its diverse range of educational programmes aimed at the general public. The Channel will devote on average at least seven hours weekly to its educational output, a substantial portion transmitted in peak-time… Channel 4 will also continue to provide high quality support material for its educational output. (Press release. ITC publishes revised channel four licence (23 February 1998), p.4)

Additional detail about its schools’ service is given later in the licence document:

The channel 4 service is required by the Act to include ‘a suitable proportion’ of programmes of an educational nature. As part of this obligation the Channel will transmit the 330 hours of schools programmes each year referred to in condition 7(1)(b) of the Licence. These schools programmes will fulfil the needs of the curriculum. They will be supported by a full range of appropriate material.(Press release. ITC publishes revised channel four licence (23 February 1998), p.4)

Channel 4 programmes are broadcast on air for schools during the day and repeats are shown at night(Letter received from Simon Fuller, May 1998). The Channel 4 broadcast service is supported by a web site(http://www.channel4.com/njs/schools_indexnj.html), Internet use, print materials, CD ROMs and by distributing video and audio cassettes(E-mail received from Paul Ashton, 7/4/98)(Simon Fuller sited the same non-broadcast support services as Paul Ashton, and included CD ROMs as well). The Channel 4 schools service ‘also includes a substantial printing operation of printed and software support materials for the programme.(Ashton, P. Schools Commissioning Editor statement, November 1992, Channel Four Television. Publicity booklet)’ In addition:

to support the Channel 4 Schools service, the Educational Television Company has appointed a nation-wide team of Education Officers, each with extensive experience in classroom teaching, knowledge of their local region, particular curriculum strengths and an understanding of the use of television programmes and their support materials in schools.(Channel 4 schools, Eureka: Ancient Greece Autumn Term, p.0 (sleeve cover).)(Simon Fuller sited the nation-wide team of Education Officers as one of the main features of the Channel Ffour Schools' service)

Channel 4 Schools issues annual resources catalogues that give the appropriate age group, a description of the programme and the prices for purchase, in subject categories(The Educational Television Company, 1994, The New Channel 4 Schools Resources Catalogue 1994/95.). Channel 4 has been using web sites ‘for all kinds of purposes’ and, Paul Ashton has run several digital and interactive television experiments for educational purposes(E-mail received from Paul Ashton, 23/4/98). The Channel 4 schools web site has:
•    a searchable database to access programme details and resource information;
•    free online resources including specially designed Net Notes, Online Teachers’ Guides and Information Sheets that can be downloaded; and
•    a schools’ forum for the exchange of ‘news, views and opinions…(and) any queries for the team of Channel 4 Education Officers.’(http://www.channle4.com/njs/schools_indexnj.html)
•    Channel 4 printed support materials(Simon Fuller sited print support and gave Teacher’s Guides as an example in his list of the main features of the service) include detailed activities, worksheet templates(Templates seem to be designed to photocopy for learners) and clear curriculum links.(Templates seem to be designed to photocopy for learners)

The Channel 4 Schools programmes are usually used in recorded form as it is more convenient(E-mail received from Paul Ashton, 7/4/98). According to Simon Fuller there is ‘some live use (of broadcasts) in primary schools…(but) most use (80%) is recorded and/or video purchase’(Letter received from Simon Fuller, May 1998). How the recording is organized varies, and could be done by local authorities, librarians, teachers and pupils(Letter received from Simon Fuller, May 1998).
There is a network of agencies (e.g. libraries) that are licensed to provide tapes at cost price. This network is heavily used on some areas(Letter received from Simon Fuller, May 1998). One of the Channel 4 brochures actively encourages recording their programmes:

We recommend recording the programmes and previewing to give the teacher ample opportunity for using the programmes creatively and with direct relevance to the children. Stopping the video at strategic moments will keep attention high and allow reinforcement or discussion to take place at times appropriate to the content.(Channel 4 schools, Eureka: Ancient Greece Autumn Term 1993, p.2)

Simon Fuller regards the following to have been successful interventions of the Channel 4 schools’ service:
•    Achieving an annual cycle of all aspects of operation to avoid crisis management;
•    Planning longer term - 2 to 3 years ahead; and
•    Responding to school needs quickly and effectively - being flexible.

Unsuccessful interventions are listed as:
•    Certain format experiments - home TV styles do not always travel into a school context;
•    Making programmes for teachers, rather than for teachers to use with pupils; and
•    Experimenting with failing technologies, e.g. CD1 - costly, time-wasting.(Letter received from Simon Fuller, May 1998)
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Sources of Information: Web sites(http://www.digitalcollege.co.uk/index-e.htm, http://www.s4c.co.uk), e-mail received from Euryn Ogwen Williams, 29/4/98
Technology: Television and digital television
S4C is the fourth public broadcasting channel that was established in Wales by the 1980/81 broadcasting acts.

The channel’s name, S4C, stands for Sianel Pedwar Cymru (Channel 4 Wales). S4C is a commissioning broadcaster, not a programme producer. The only aspect of S4C’s output produced in-house is inter-programme presentation.(http://www.s4c.co.uk)

It is a Welsh service. Schools programmes are shown every weekday morning on S4C during school terms. BBC Wales takes responsibility for back-up materials for both staff and pupils(E-mail received from Euryn Ogwen Williams, 29/4/98). A new venture of S4C is to the digital networks and an Internet service to service the needs of further education and lifelong learning.(E-mail received from Euryn Ogwen Williams, 29/4/98)
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Unites States of America schools services in general
Sources of Information: Web sites(http://www.cpb.org/library/researchnotes/98.html , http://www.cpb.org/library/schoolusestudy/index.html) of research reports.
Technology: Television and video are focused in the reports sited

The Unites States of America has a huge array of both radio and television public broadcasting channels(As an indication of the array of stations offering educational programming, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Teacher Connex service has three partner stations, 16 participant stations and 67 affiliated stations listed on their web site: http://www.pbs.org/learn/tconnex/tcstations.html). In a 1996 study

public television stations were asked whether they provided instructional programming to elementary or secondary schools or other educational institutions during the 1994-95 academic year...A total of 162, or 80 percent of all stations provided programming to elementary schools’ and 160 provided programmes for secondary schools.(Charlton, W., November 1996)

The most popular means of delivery for channels providing instructional programming was full-power broadcast(Charlton, W., November 1996) . With such a range of stations offering a broadcast service to schools, a general overview of the Unites States of America schools services has been given. The following services to schools were listed most often in the survey on public stations:
•    advanced schedules;
•    previews of instructional programmes;
•    interactive distance education;
•    daytime and/or overnight block feeds of programmes to schools; and
•    technology utilisation support for teachers.(Charlton, W., November 1996)

A more recent Unites States of America study (Corporation of Public Broadcasting Study of School Uses of Television and Video, 1996-1997 School Year - Summary Report, http://www.cpb.org/library/schoolusestudy/index.html) focused on the teachers and the schools rather than on the public television stations. The following observations about the use of schools television programming services in the Unites States of America of America were made:

• Teachers have the equipment needed to support the use of television and video in their classrooms. ‘98% of teachers say that television and video are available in their schools to use in instruction…On average, schools in 1997 have 21 standard television sets…The typical school in 1997 also has 14 VCRs (Videocassette Recorders) for teachers use...Nearly three fourths of schools have laser discs’(http://www.cpb.org/library/schoolusestudy/index.html). The report also concludes that ‘Nearly 8 out of 10 schools have access to public broadcasting service programming’, 78% of schools are reported as having added cable or fibre systems and 33% have satellite systems.(http://www.cpb.org/library/schoolusestudy/sus7.html)

• Television programming is recorded and seldom used synchronously. ‘93% of teachers rely on television programming on tape, all or most of the time, rather than directly off-air…Home recording constitute a major source of their videotapes (67%), as do school media centres or district libraries and colleagues’.(Corporation of Public Broadcasting Study of School Uses of Television and Video, 1996-1997 School Year - Summary Report, http://www.cpb.org/library/schoolusestudy/sus4.html)

• Teachers can get information about TV and video programming in a number of ways. ‘The most common source of information is colleagues…Home viewing, TV listings, and newspaper or magazine articles are other common sources. Guides developed specifically for teachers - such as the CPB Teacher’s Digest, PBS Teacher Connex, Cable in the Classroom, and local PBS station guides - are another important source of information…A small percentage of teachers are accessing online information sources such as PBS Online’.(Corporation of Public Broadcasting Study of School Uses of Television and Video, 1996-1997 School Year - Summary Report, http://www.cpb.org/library/schoolusestudy/sus6.html)(NOTE: the teacher support services offered by PBS Teacher Connex, Cable in the Classroom and PBS Online are discussed separately, and in more detail, later in this document)

• Teachers make use of a variety of programmes, not just those pertaining specifically to their students and the curriculum. ‘Public television is the largest source of programming used’(http://www.cpb.org/library/schoolusestudy/sus6.html).…Feature length movies and general audience programmes from public, cable/satellite television are used in addition to programmes designed for instructional use.

• The public television educational programmes are the most popular. Reading Rainbow, Magic School Bus, Bill Nye the Science Guy, National Geographic and NOVA were the top five, most frequently cited as the best programmes for instructional purposes.(http://www.cpb.org/library/schoolusestudy/sus7.html)

• Teachers receive training and technical assistance to support classroom use of television and video.
  Nearly half (46%) of principals say that their districts provide training in the instructional use of television and video. Fifty-nine percent of teachers report they have received training in classroom use TV and video at some point in their careers and, of these, 71 percent have received such training in the last five years.(http://www.cpb.org/library/schoolusestudy/sus9.html)

To give a more specific description of some of the school services of broadcasters in the United States of America, descriptions from some online support services have been included. Information has been gathered from PBS Classroom Connex, Cable in the Classroom and Discovery Online.

Sources of Information: Web sites(http://www.pbs.org; http://www.pbs.org/learn/tconnex/)
Technology: Television

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) broadcasts numerous general audience and children’s programmes that are intended for use in schools. It has a national broadcast schedule, and local public television stations have their own schedules relevant to their regional audiences. PBS has a Teacher Resource Service that offers an online and print service called PBS Teacher Connex.(http://www.pbs.org/learn/tconnex/abouttc.html)

Teacher Connex seeks to make PBS programming more accessible and more useful in K-12 classrooms across the Unites States of America.(http://www.pbs.org/learn/tconnex/abouttc.html) 

Each month teachers are provided with information about the PBS general audience and children’s programming and extended videotaping rights for classroom use in the U.S, including:
•    programme descriptions;
•    grade level appropriateness;
•    cross-curricular applications;
•    teacher resources; and
•    links to relevant World Wide Web sites. (http://www.pbs.org/learn/tconnex/abouttc.html)

Cable in the Classroom
Sources of information: Web site (http://www.ciconline.com/textonly/about.htm)
Technology: Cable television (This cable television service has been described as it may have some relevance to broadcasting services)

Cable in the Classroom is

supported by 38 national cable networks and over 8 500 local cable companies… (who provide) a free cable connection and over 540 hours per month of commercial-free educational programming to schools across the country.(http://www.ciconline.com/textonly/about.htm)

Cable Networks (including CNN, Discovery, A&E and Nickelodeon) set aside a portion of their on-air time for these commercial-free educational programmes.

Some of the programming is created specifically for a network’s Cable in the Classroom… offering while other networks…often reformat documentaries or other programmes from their regular schedule into ‘teacher-friendly’ modules. All of the programmes are copy right cleared so that schools can build their own video libraries.(http://www.ciconline.com/textonly/about.htm) 

The intention is for local cable companies to provide a cable connection into every school in their service areas. A monthly magazine that lists Cable in the Classroom programming, by subject is available to schools. The programming is ‘intended to be video taped rather than used in real time’(http://www.ciconline.com/textonly/about.htm) . It is assumed that video recordings will be done by a teacher at home, by the schools media co-ordinator of by the librarian.
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Discovery Channel, Learning Channel and Animal Planet
Sources of Information: Web site : http://www.discovery.com, http://www.discovery.com/sched/domestic/learning/learning.html, E-mail from Wayne Liew 10/4/98 and 29/4/98.
Technology: Television

The Discovery Channel and Learning Channel provide education programmes geared towards the K-12 curriculum. Discovery Channel is one of the channels offered by Malaysia’s MegaTV. It has extensive video and CD ROM resources. The broadcast service is supported by a web site, Discovery Online(), which lists: http://www.discovery.com
•    educational resources offered by the Discovery Channel;
•    educator group lists;
•    lesson plans; and
•    general educational resources.
The school store lists all the products (particularly CD-ROM’s and videos) which are available for purchase. There is also a listing of the educational schedule with brief descriptions(http://www.discovery.com/sched/domestic/learning/learning.html). The following descriptions of current schools service series have been included to indicate the types of programmes available:

•   Assignment Discovery is a daily series created for middle school and high school students, and is also suitable for younger audiences. Each one-hour programme contains two 23-minutes documentaries, plus discussion questions, factual recall questions, and suggested reading material…
•   TLC Elementary School is a weekly series created for grades K-6. Each hour-long programme contains several short documentaries, two to 15 minutes long, all on the same curriculum topic, that can be used as stand-alone shows….
•   School Stories is a series of half-hour programmes, airing on The Learning Channel that offers a unique, behind-the-scenes look at education in America. …(It) is produced in partnership with the National Education Association.(http://www.discovery.com)

The Resource Finder on Discovery Channel School aims to enable teachers to find a range of lesson ideas from study questions and vocabulary that compliment television programmes to online activities. The resources are categorized by subject and grade level. The following additional support is given to help teachers select which programmes to use:
•    An online T.V. calendar with monthly charts that can be printed out;
•    A free Educator Guide, ‘which contains the entire semester’s television programming and a catalogue of videos for sale’, and can be ordered via a toll free number; and
•    Discovery Channel School e-mail list. Teachers receive a weekly programme notice via e-mail along with some innovative ideas for ways to use the programmes.

The web site lists tips for recording the broadcast programmes, which shows that the Discovery Channel does not expect the broadcasts to be used synchronously. The ‘taping tips’ list is addressed to teachers, illustrates some of the envisaged ways in which recordings are organized. It suggests that parents should be enlisted to help with taping or to send in blank tapes, and that teachers ‘might also wish to set up (their) VCR over the weekend to tape an entire week’s worth of programming’. This indicated that reruns of the week’s programmes are done on weekends to facilitate block recordings. The anticipated classroom use of the Discovery Channel resources is made clear with these Guidelines for Viewing:
•    To energize your curriculum with the effective use of video, try following some of these guidelines. Fuller explanations and examples can be found further down this page;
•    View the programme before showing it to your students;
•    Initiate viewing with an activity or discussion;
•    Energize your students to view the videos for a purpose;
•    Watch with your students;
•    Interact with the video by pausing, rewinding, and discussing;
•    Ask students to list key ideas or cite important points;
•    Take time to use Discovery Channel School curricula (school.discovery.com);
•    Investigate other related resources;
•    Prepare follow-up activities or ask students to design the follow-up activities;
•    Tape all the Assignment Discovery and TLC Elementary School programmes related to your curriculum;
•    Assign meaningful pre-viewing, viewing, and follow-up work;
•    Coach your students to become intelligent viewers;
•    Heighten viewing awareness with meaningful questions.(http://www.discovery.com)

A section on ‘ideas for classroom use’ complements the guidelines.
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Sources of Information: Literature
Technology: Radio
From 1982 to 1992 in partnership with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation of Germany, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Company (ZBC) ran a schools broadcast service called Radio 4. In 1992 the project was handed over to the ZBC and was described by Bredigheid as follows:

Twelve hours a day from Monday to Friday, ZBC broadcasts its fourth radio programme on (almost) all of its numerous FM transmitters spread all over the country. The broadcast hours in the morning and the early afternoon are dominated by Schools Broadcast: More than four hours per day Radio 4 transmits formal education programmes, from Grade One right up to A levels, complimented by regular feature programmes for teachers. The programmes are produced by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Radio 4 producers.(Bredigheit, H., 1992, p.7)

There was almost no printed course material for the pupils and/or the teachers. Radio 4 saw its function as enhancing classroom work, rather than replacing it.

Establishing detailed descriptions of school services from international broadcasters has been difficult. The problems of establishing the correct contact details of international broadcasters were identified previously in ‘collection of data’. Facsimile and e-mail correspondence does not elicit many responses. Without establishing initial personal contact, people are not likely to be willing to contribute to the research. Even though a description of the purpose and background of the research was given, this did not seem substantial enough to motivate people to respond. As data collection was a major problem, a fundamental weakness of the research is its lack of triangulation. In many instances secondary research from a single data source had to be relied upon. This was particularly true of initiatives in developing countries where individual and organizational contact details could not be established. Where e-mail communication was established the descriptions are far more coherent as a dialogue could be established. Meeting with a representative from Sri Lanka face-to-face and establishing true dialogue resulted in a richer description based on information that was gathered far faster. The research could have been greatly improved if personal contact with a representative from the country (who was familiar with the educational broadcasting scenario, but not necessarily an expert) could have been established.

The research has been limited by its bias towards English broadcasters or broadcasters who can communicate in English. No attempt was made to have the facsimile and e-mail correspondence translated into the language of the recipient. Also when web sites of broadcasters were encountered that were in languages other than English, no attempt was made to have them translated. In retrospect it may have been better to elicit co-operation from embassy information officers, or through government structures. The time and budget allocated to this aspect of the research did not allow for more thorough and improved data collection or for translations.
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