John Logie Baird(1888 - 1946), an electrical engineer forced by ill-health into early retirement, pursued a long held interest in transmitting pictures. In the summer of 1924 he rented a two room attic at 22 Frith Street and set it up as a laboratory. For the next 18 months he conducted a series of experiments that led to his demonstrating his "noctovision" to members of the Royal Institution at is laboratory on January 27th, 1926 - the first public demonstration of the medium. A number of people were working on picture transmission at the time. Baird’s system used infrared rays to communicate pictures from a darkened room. From there he went on to transmit pictures between London and Glasgow using telephone lines in 1927. A year later he used radio waves to transmit pictures between London and New York. His company, Baird Television Development Company, made the first programme for the BBC (broadcast on September 30, 1929). His mechanical system was only to have a short lifespan - it was replaced by an electronic system developed by Marconi and EMI.
Today the average person in Britain watches around 21 hours of television per week. Not surprisingly, it has become the central means by which many people educate themselves. Through news and current affairs coverage, educational programming, documentaries and drama it has allowed us expand our knowledge of the world and other cultures. It is a powerful socializing force and, as a result, is a central focus for politicians, business people and others that want to influence large numbers of people. It is hardly surprising that in most countries television channels have either become arms of the state or fiercely guarded as commercial properties - cash cows fed by advertising. In Britain the main terrestrial channels have had to operate within a legislative framework that has sought a strong public service orientation. Their task has been not only to entertain but also to inform and to educate.
Early possibilities for learning. Many of the possibilities of radio and television were quickly grasped by those concerned with adult education. The Hadow Committee, for example saw its power to reach the masses.
The adult education movement, vigorous as it is, touches as yet only a small proportion of the population. Broadcasting … can fill many of the existing gaps; it can widen the field from which students are drawn; it can put listeners in touch with the leaders of thought and the chief experts in many subjects; and it can lead on to more formal or more intensive study. There is little danger that it will supplant other educational facilities, especially if the educational bodies take their share in its development.
The Hadow Committee (1928) New Ventures in Broadcasting: A study in adult education,London: BBC, page 87
As Groombridge (1996: 356) has noted, those responsible for laying the foundations for broadcasting in the UK were influenced by ‘the positive attitudes to social renewal and democracy that inspired the ‘1919 Report’. In particular, John Reith’s emphasis on the educational role of the BBC (he was the first general manager in 1922 and then the director general between 1927 and 1938) bore considerable fruits. His concern with ‘The Best of Everything’ was expressed through the development of programmes with general educational content; the establishment of schools broadcasting; and an emphasis on adult education. There were considerable battles with the Government over the broadcasting of controversy.
The contribution of television to lifelong learning. Over the years there have been some considerable successes in harnessing the more formal educational role of television and radio. This has included:
the provision of specialized programming that can be used as part of courses of study - for example, in schools or as part of stand alone initiatives such as those concerned with learning different languages.
the development of integrated campaigns that use television, special support material and local providers. Perhaps the best known of these has been On The Move - linked to the adult literacy campaign of the mid 1970s.
the establishment of the Open University in 1969 (based on the notion of a ’University of the Air’. Twenty years after its establishment it conferred its 100,000th degree. It also helped to transform higher education teaching through its use of distance learning, television and new media, and through the development of course materials, readers and books.
However, a focus on the formal contribution can lead us to overlook just what a powerful tool television and radio has been to those wanting to deepen their understanding of themselves and the world through more informal means. Sometimes this may take the form of ‘learning projects’ where people look out for programmes that might help them explore an interest or enthusiasm. At other times, learning may be rather more incidental.
Groombridge (1996: 374-5) sums up his survey of broadcasting and adult education by noting its impressive historical record:
As Reith foresaw, public service broadcasting can provide access, free at the point of use, to some of the finest scholars of the age, to historical archive, to landscapes beyond reach, to experiments too dangerous or expensive to perform locally. It has attracted outstanding educators to work in it and make use of it… Broadcasting reaches everybody. Small audiences for educational programmes are enormous audiences by the standards of face-to-face adult education. Broadcasting has increasingly raised awareness of those more intimate, local forms of education, not merely through factual programmes, but also through the storylines of soap operas. It has introduced or promoted significant innovations to the adult curriculum (literacy, numeracy, computers, third age studies, even Yoga, and many others)… To an extent that Reith could not possibly have envisaged, broadcasting has been a major force, probably the major adult educational force in contemporary British society, both through much of the general output and through the range and quality of its specialised provision in radio and television.
Groombridge, B. (1996) ‘Broadcasting’ in R. Fieldhouse and Associates A History of Modern British Adult Education, Leicester: NIACE.
© Mark K. Smith 1999.
