EDUCATION- OVER THE AIR

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22195, 11 September 1937, Page 21

EDUCATION- OVER THE AIR

I BRITISH SYSTEM OF SCHOOL BROADCASTS STIMULATING USE OF WIRELESS ,:» - {SPECIALLY WEITTEN FOtt THB FRSSa.J ''lS** Xj [By H. HARGRAVE.] "Good . afternoon, children," says I Thos. Armstrong, D.Mus., organist and lecturer in music at Christchurch, Oxford, or B. Keen, D.Sc, F.R.S., assist-ant-director, Rothamstead Experimental Station, or Commander Stephen King-Hall, or some other well-known broadcaster, to the school children in England. At the broadcaster's bidding they will later sing, refer to pictures or atlases, repeat lines of poetry, and even perform rhythmic exercises to music, responding freely to direction given from a microphone at Broadcasting House, perhaps several hundred miles away. In England to-day this is one of the accepted daily features of the broadcasting day. Although it occupies two and a quarter hours of the day there ave no complaints from the general public, for these broadcasts are so interesting and so stimulating, even to adults, that they listen in and enjoy them as well as the children themselves. About 30Q,0Q0 children in some 6000 schools throughout England—an increase Of 45 per cent, on last year's figures—are listening in at some time of the day to lectures, talks, concerts given by specialists in the various fields. A programme of this range safeguards the British Broadcasting , Corporation from the criticism of those who fear that broadcasting may tend to standardise education. All the children are not necessarily listening-iii at the same time, but perhaps twice a week for 20 minutes they are having their educational experience enriched through the contact with the world outside, contact with new personalities, new ideas, and new adult modes of thought and speech. It is preparing the child for a citizenship through the useful employment of leisure time. ' Direct and Indirect Influences The education of an individual results from influences which are both direct and indirect. The school, the home, the general environment all play their part in forming the character of the child, and it is to the school we must look as the most consciously directive of all influences, for it selects and devises its special curriculum of knowledge. To this intellectual training of the school, broadcasting makes its contribution. How does it do this? It brings the child into touch with a world outside school and seeks to encourage pupils constantly to develop a . broad outlook and critical approach to problems. New information and new ... approach are both valuable. Fresh- * / ness/interest, reality are all added to I the child's schooling by the traveller describing the countries he has visited or the specialist commenting on the events of the week, or the musician demonstrating his art. But broadcasting cannot achieve what it has set out to do if it has to stand alone. It is supplementary to the educational process,. and the ' teacher must supply the necessary preparation if-the \mor**i& toUe Slell re- "* ceivedr the teacnlr, too, must direct the broadcast's stimulus to study and Inquiry; It is for; the teacher to use this means of providing the young with something more than the common stuff of school experience. .-.. ■ Elaborate Organisation Broadcasting of this sort demands a" somewhat elaborate organisation. In ,1929 the British Broadcasting Corporation brought into being the Central Council for School Broadcasting, financed entirely by the British Broadcasting Corporation. This council, consisting of 43 members and representing the major educational bodies, both of administrators and teachers, and persons nominated by the British Broadcasting Corporation, supervises through committees the programme and pamphlet arrangements, and engineering facilities, the control and appointment of the council's staff, and the organisation of research and experiment. It deals also directly with the Board of Education, the local educational authorities and the various associations of teachers on matters of educational policy and administration. It even organises meetings of teachers, at which demonstrations of school broadcasts are given, and methods of using these broadcasts in ~ the school are discussed. Sub-commit-tees of the council are set up, consisting of a member of the council, one ormore specialists, one of His Majesty's inspectors, and a number of teachers from different types of schools, who form the majority of each committee. Thus the broadcasts are in the control of those persons who are in close touch with the schools. The * function of this sub-committee is to arrange the programmes in geography, % history, modern languages,. music, science, etc., and in many cases suggest experts or specialists for the various series. The production of these programmes « left in the hands of the School Broadcasting Department, under the control of Miss Mary Sonr-ville, ttBJE., who was born at Waihoi near Dunedin, New Zealand. She has a number of assistants under her, all of whom have been at some time or other specialist teachers in their particular subjects. The specialists suggested by the sub-committee are chosen according to broadcasting personality and suitability of voice. When chosen, he presents his script, and great trouble is taken to see that it is m a form presentable to children, since °«en the traveller or author has had nttle or no experience in broadcasts to children. Production Methods It may be interesting to study the Processes necessary under this system Jor the production of, for example, a f broadcast travel talk. The sub-com-ntittee on geography has a period of time assigned to it, and an outline of the proposed course of talks approved by the council. It carefully Works out a detailed scheme covering * whole year's series of broadcast talks.' Thus it will decide how many talks shall be assigned to each county included in the scheme, which a »»ects of the country will be emphasised, and in what sequence. For e ach talk a short synopsis of the geography points to be stressed is made. K'then falls to the British Broadcasting Corporation programme officials concerned to find. appropriate travellers who are also good broadcasters, and to gain from them travel talks which, although they will be built round the points supplied by the , committee, will leave the child with an impression of having heard at P'st hand the personal experience of titertravellers. The script of this talk jsjhen revised by the geography pro- , assistant. Often it is returned - 12. '%> traveller two, three, or even Hw .times for remodelling. The facts "W not be immediately intelligible to 'he children, clearness of thought and ' +u- fy ma y need attention, or even Jjw timing may be so incorrect that ««&, whole course will need remodelThen comes the rehearsal, when, the narrator takes his place before the >phone, while the programme p Qfr. who has with him his techni-i . who control the volume, the out, etc., listens in the dramatic

control room. Although the script has been thoroughly revised before, there are still many points to be corrected, and this they do, asking the narrator in the studio through a microphone to pause longer after .certain directions, to change the pronunciation of some place name.,to speak more softly, ©r to correct script details. After this it is run through for timing to see that-the talk.does not exceed 20 minutes; The jproadcast Itself Now comes the actual broadcast, which sometimes takes the "form of a narrative, a running commentary with appropriate background noises, or a talk illustrated with sound effects, or gramophone records of native music or speech. In history it' was found that the children became tired and restless, so dramatic interludes were included, in which scenes from history are enacted. To the children in the classroom are brought the_ sounds of monastery bells, the rattle' of anchor chains, or chanting of the shantymen, etc. These interludes have been found so successful and such a valuable factor that they are now included in other courses, such as rural scenes, stories for juniors, and topical talks, eg, on "Cotton." An illustrated pamphlet is provided for most of the courses for use by individual children during the broadcast lesson. In some cases the children buy them themselves; in dthers they are provided by the local education committee. The material for the pamphlet is assembled by ' the British Broadcasting Corporation officials, who procure it from the various speakers, and edit it. However, occasionally they themselves assist in the final selection of the illustrations. -It is now a regular feature that during the broadcast the attention of the child is directed to special points in the council's wonderfully illustrated pamphlet. The programme itself isfor "the most part specifically designed for children of age range nine to 14 and in the elementary schools, which are not as a rule staffed by specialist teachers. Provision is made for these children by a course in musical appreciation singing, various history courses, a geography course, travel talks, feature Programmes, and topical talks, talks' on nglish literature, illustrated by reading of poetry or prose or-dramatisa-tion of Dickens, or some modern plays. There are two science courses—one dealing with biology and one with scientific gardening, and a rural course for country schools. These courses are on the whole designed to provide links between school activities and adult interests, to divorce the children from the dependent attitude which sometimes develops from continuous class teaching; for the child to-day is lamentably deficient in initiative and independence. Courses for Secondary Schools Of late the secondary schools have been given increasing attention in the provision of such valuable courses as modern languages, a series of weekly talks on foreign affairs, orchestral concerts, and talks on next week's broadcast music, for it is felt that in the secondary school it is found possible to do most in training young people's power of selection, in stimulating an interest in the various problems of the day whether of economics, aspects of art, or of social', sciences. For pupils below nine the most valuable course is "music and movement-** The aim of the specialist, Miss Ann Driver, is to lead the " children in simple movements tp music oi a rhythmic and melodic character and so obtain a rhythmic response and lay the foundation of true appreciation* of music. Teachers in England are more highly appreciative of this course than any others, more than 42 per cent of the listening schools taking this course. The vital factor in the whole question of school broadcasts is the teacher. His co-operation is essential if the lessons are to be a success. The council never ceases emphasising that the wireless lesson is to supplement the teacher's work in the school. Teachers are, as it were, joint shareholders, owning jointly the service of school broadcasting, and as such should take an active part in its service as well as its direction. It can therefore be said that the British Broadcasting Corporation is producing a broadcasting programme which has a definite educational value, which vitalises the school curriculum and is correspondingly appreciated'by an: increasing number of schools. Where does New Zealand stand in this new contribution to education?