BROADCASTS TO SCHOOLS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 464, 14 May 1948, Page 13

BROADCASTS TO SCHOOLS

SCHOOL BROADCASTING IN BRITAIN. By Richard Palmer. The British Broadcasting Corporation. (Through the: British Council). CHOOL broadcasting in Britain began as a service in 1929 and since then has grown steadily until to-day 42 per cent. of the total number of schools in England, Wales and Scotland are "registered for listening." It has followed three main lines in its developmentexperiment in radio techniques, doing in a radio way; the application of teaching experience to the selection of material; and the growth of a close partnership between the BBC and the educational system. The last of these, all important in themselves, is to me the most important. "Radio end" and "listening end" must combine for the best ‘results; and the story of school broadcasting in Britain is a story of the closest collaboration between broadcasters and teachers working together, not te provide "prefabricated lessons," but an exciting educational experience for the child. What success they have achieved can best be judged from the numerous and lengthy extracts from scripts given by Mr. Palmer in his book. There’s a fine and authentic dramatization of the "Arrest of the Five Members" with Charles I speaking to The House, an interview with the famous detective Sherlock Holmes "at the mike" to quote only two, All are vivid and lively presentations which would gain a willing ear from any child listener. They make exciting and interesting reading and demonstrate without further pleading the value of such broadcasts as part of the Educational System. It is a pity that there is little of this "liveliness" in the book. With the exception of the opening chapter, on the history of School Broadcasting-by Miss Mary Somerville, who both "organised and inspired the development of School Broadcasts in Britain," the book is written in a "jargon" that makes rather dull reading. Certainly Mr. Palmer makes a plea for the use of a special vocabulary of technical terms being necessary, but it is aggravating to have terms such as "visual and aural media" applied to radio and film. One significant aspect of School Broadcasts is that the’ listening audience includes parents as well as teachers and pupils. And a book such as this, written more simply, would have had a wide appeal. However the book is valuable, if only for the extracts, which are intensely interesting; the work of combined effort they demonstrate is radio craftsmanship at its best.

J.W.

C.