BBC launches daily educational shows to keep children studying

The BBC is launching a series of daily educational programmes designed to allow children to study key national curriculum topics while Britain’s schools are closed.

The hurriedly pulled together programming has been developed with the help of the Department for Education and private educational providers, earning praise from government ministers who months ago had been warning about the BBC’s future.

The daily Bitesize TV episodes, hosted by presenters including the Strictly Come Dancing star Oti Mabuse, with other famous faces expected to join later, will run for 14 weeks from 20 April, the traditional start of the summer term.

Six different daily shows, each for different age groups between five and 14, will be produced every weekday for the BBC’s iPlayer and red button services – with filming taking place in the unused Match of the Day studio.

The diverging approaches to school closures may stem from the considerable uncertainty around the extent to which children are playing a role in spreading Covid-19.

Children make up a tiny minority of confirmed cases – fewer than 1% of positive tests in China were children under nine. It is probable that a bigger pool are getting infected but only experiencing mild or no symptoms. Among those who have tested positive, nearly 6% developed very serious illness, according to an assessment of 2,000 patients aged under 18 in Wuhan, with under-fives and babies being most at risk.

A significant unknown is how infectious children are, assuming large numbers are getting infected. Early evidence suggests that around 50% of transmission in the pandemic at large has involved asymptomatic people and children could be among this group.

“It seems most plausible to me that they are being infected but are at low risk of developing disease,” said Prof Peter Smith, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “We know that for flu, children are important transmitters of infection, which is the basis for the flu vaccination programme directed at children, but we do not know yet how important they are as transmitters of coronavirus. So closing schools would be based on the assumption that they do make an important contribution to transmission.”

Rates of various illnesses are seen to rise and fall at the start and end of school terms. School holidays were thought to have led to a plateau in the 2009 swine flu pandemic. Also advised hygiene and social distancing measures, such as hand washing and reduced physical contact, just aren’t very effective in a primary school playground setting. So there is the potential for schools to act as a local fountain of infection for the surrounding area.

“Every mother and father knows that when kids go back to school they’re going to get hammered by colds and flus and sore throats,” said Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia.

This uncertain science has to be carefully weighed against the certain disruption and cost of school closures, including taking large numbers of doctors and nurses out of the workplace, and unintended consequences such as grandparents, who are among the most vulnerable, taking on childcare and facing greater exposure.

After watching the 20-minute show, parents and children will be directed to the BBC website for an age-appropriate daily mix of videos, quizzes, podcasts and worksheets covering core subjects such as maths, English and science. The content, produced in association with the likes of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Premier League and Puffin Books, will be tailored for the syllabuses in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

There will also be daily educational podcasts aimed at both primary and secondary school children, while content for older children will be provided through live online Q&As with teachers.

Children who should be studying for GCSEs and A-levels will also be directed to BBC Four, which will show a block of programming between 7pm and 9pm on weekday evenings linked to their syllabus – such as classic Shakespeare performances or relevant documentaries.

“Our commitment is to be there for as long as schools are closed,” said the BBC’s children’s director, Alice Webb, adding that millions of British children were already turning to the Bitesize education service. “We are creating 150 new lessons a week.”

She said that while many schools were sending worksheets to parents, the BBC material was designed to help teach new concepts and ensure ongoing learning. The output has been developed with the Department for Education, which will ensure schools are aware of what is coming up so they can support pupils working remotely.

However, the public broadcaster may find that some homeschooling habits have already set in by the time the programmes launch, a month into the lockdown. Many parents have turned to existing online learning resources, while some schools are still providing material to pupils, and there has been a boom in educational material on YouTube. Wealthier parents are also increasingly turning to private tuition.

In a sign of the government’s fast-changing attitudes towards the BBC since the start of the coronavirus crisis – when ministers were still boycotting Radio 4’s Today programme – the announcement was accompanied by approving quotes from multiple cabinet ministers.

Government sources said the relationship between the government and the national broadcaster was now much improved thanksto its work during the pandemic. “The BBC were amongst the first to roll up their sleeves on coronavirus and it’s been good to see,” said one.

The culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, who will have responsibility for overseeing the recently closed consultation on decriminalising non-payment of the BBC licence fee, said: “This is public service broadcasting at its best and will make a big difference to millions of children across the UK while schools are closed. I’m delighted the BBC is working closely with the government to help make sure our children are educated, informed and entertained during these challenging times.”