BBC Beyond the Broadcast Outreach and the BBC’S Public Purposes

BBC Beyond the Broadcast Outreach and the BBC’s Public Purposes The BBC’s fundamental purpose as a public service broadcaster is to provide value to its many different audiences. Primarily this is delivered by creating and broadcasting multi-platform services of the highest possible quality and range. In addition, the BBC continues to explore and develop ways to engage audiences actively and extend its relationship with people from communities across the diversity of the UK. The Charter sets out six Public Purposes for the BBC that underpin everything we do. They are: • Sustaining citizenship and civil society • Promoting education and learning • Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence • Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities • Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK • Supporting emerging communications In the pages that follow we illustrate some of the ways in which BBC outreach work plays a crucial role in delivering these Public Purposes, supporting and reinforcing BBC activity beyond the broadcast. Sustaining citizenship and Citizenship civil society You can trust the BBC to provide high quality news, current affairs and factual programming that keeps you informed and supports debate about important issues and political developments in an engaging way. You can look to the BBC for help using and understanding different kinds of media. The BBC has a global reputation for providing independent journalism of the highest quality across a growing range of platforms that now include podcasts and SMS Text Alert, as well as the more traditional outlets. We aim to engage a wide variety of people in news and current affairs and to stimulate conversation and debate. Our audiences are connecting with the news agenda as never before. From BBC One’s Breakfast News to Five Live’s 6-0-6, record numbers of people are calling, texting and emailing programmes, and even helping report the news. Many BBC stations across the UK are enabling local audiences to find a voice through community reporter schemes. In Kent and East Sussex, Making it! invited viewers to decide which stories really matter and make their own edition of South East Today. Other BBC projects directly encourage communities to engage with civil society and develop greater understanding of political processes. Schools Question Time provides an annual opportunity for students to set the agenda for primetime news and current affairs debate on BBC One. During elections, BBC News teams are especially busy; the BBC Wales bus toured the country during the 2007 Assembly elections, while in the last General Election a BBC bus took to the road, stopping off in cities, towns and villages across the UK to discover what voters were talking about. Meanwhile, an innovative schools project has been energising hundreds of 11 to 14 year olds to take an interest in the news… A lot of these children hadn’t watched the News before we started Citizenship and they’re now saying,‘Miss did you see that on the News last night?’ Students turn broadcasters for the day Catherine Alnuamaani, Trinity Church of England High School, Manchester One of the defining characteristics of the BBC’s the nature and meaning of Britishness in present public service role is the positive contribution it day, multicultural London. makes to the wider well-being of society, helping to create better informed, more engaged Teachers can draw on the support of volunteer communities. BBC mentors and lesson plans about how to make news, mapped to the curricula for English, BBC News School Report is a model example Citizenship and ICT. They have found that the of that ethos in action – a pioneering outreach project can add real value for their students. project that engages pupils aged 11 to 14 with news. Over 3,000 students in 120 schools took Catherine Alnuamaani from Trinity Church of part during the 2006/07 academic year, rising to England High School in Manchester said,‘A lot of 250 schools in 2007/08. these children hadn’t watched the News before we started and they’re now saying,“Miss did you The project culminates with students becoming see that on the News last night?” I think that’s broadcasters for a day, creating their own news really valuable for them because it’s allowed them reports using video, audio and text. Students an appreciation of what’s going on around them work towards a real ‘on air’ deadline on School in the world.’ Report News Day. They go live with their bulletins at 2pm that day by posting reports on As a result of this highly positive response, not to their own schools’ websites, which are linked to mention the enormous energy and enthusiasm the BBC’s national School Report website. of the pupils themselves, the BBC has now committed to School Report as a continuing School Reporters have been featured on BBC project, recognising its value in helping equip national, regional and local news programmes today’s school children to become tomorrow’s including the Six O’Clock News, Radio Five Live, better informed, more empowered citizens. regional TV bulletins and on 40 local radio stations.This has given hundreds of students the BBC School Report News Day is in March. chance to have their voices heard, on subjects from gun crime to pensions, helping provide a Find out more at bbc.co.uk/schoolreport positive representation of young people. Students in Glasgow highlighted the case of a 14 year old Turkish pupil at their school who faced deportation, while others in Hackney debated Promoting education and learning You can look to the BBC to help everyone in the UK to Learning learn. An important role for the BBC is to support formal education in schools and colleges. In addition, the BBC will offer engaging ways for everyone in the UK to build their knowledge and skills across a broad range of subjects. The BBC wants to encourage audiences to take advantage of opportunities for learning throughout their lifetimes. We seek to engage people in activities that can also benefit society beyond the individual. BBC Learning plays a lead role in meeting these aims, working across the corporation to offer a variety of accessible projects that stimulate curiosity and help people learn. Its high-impact learning campaigns are supported by a network of external partners who are key to the success of this work and provide vital contact with communities in all parts of the UK. BBC Breathing Places is an example of informal learning at its best – a five year, UK wide campaign that inspires people to create and care for green spaces in their local area. Another example is BBC Blast, which focuses on creative learning, aiming to build the confidence and skills of 13 to 19 year olds by offering them opportunities for hands-on involvement in the creative arts. Formal learning projects support educational goals for people of all ages. BBC Bitesize is now used as a revision aid by over three quarters of all GCSE and Standard Grade students across the country, while thousands of adults have been closely involved with a very successful BBC literacy campaign… Campaign inspires adults to improve their skills Lord Reith’s founding vision for the BBC was opportunities at a local level across the UK. We want an environment where people will feel comfortable learning and Learning to provide ‘information, education and The LearnDirect helpline offers individual advice entertainment’ and one of the defining features and some 6,000 centres across the country have where parents feel a sense of achievement in being able to help their children. of the 21st century BBC is that learning remains hosted RaW events including storytelling at the heart of our mission. workshops, reading groups, pub quizzes and Jane Quinn, Education Executive, BBC writers’ workshops. RaW, the BBC’s biggest ever adult literacy campaign, is a powerful demonstration of what During eight weeks of autumn 2007 RaW took can be achieved through a multimedia, multi their Max and Lara characters on the road in a partner project on a national scale. Since it Big Top, attracting over 26,000 people. At the began in 2005, more than two million people first event in Plymouth, the local branch of Kids have engaged with this ‘Reading and Writing’ and Dads signed up more than 90 fathers for campaign, which aims to give new confidence to their courses and overall 2,500 people made adults who struggle with everyday tasks such as follow up calls. filling in official forms, writing greeting cards or reading to their children. RaW’s project leader Jane Quinn explains, ‘We try to use all the BBC’s resources to remove the Family literacy is a central focus of the campaign, stigma associated with poor literacy skills. We reinforced by high profile storylines in popular want an environment where people will feel BBC programmes such as EastEnders and Casualty, comfortable learning and where parents feel a and by the distribution of thousands of DVDs, sense of achievement in being able to help their activity packs, magazines and storybooks, many children.’ based on the popular fictional RaW characters Max and Lara. A recent RaW storytelling During 2008 RaW is supporting the National Year competition attracted nearly 2,000 entries. of Reading, and later a new broadband RaW website will be launched, offering support for a Online games, quizzes and video resources are broader range of skills for everyday life – numeracy permanently available at RaW online, including and ICT as well as literacy. This will generate a Terry Wogan talking about reading to his new phase of outreach activity, continuing the long grandchildren and Lenny Henry’s factsheets on tradition of keeping education and learning at the ways of telling stories.

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