Archive On 4: That's Edutainment!

ARCHIVE ON 4: THAT'S EDUTAINMENT! (320kbs-m4a/130mb/57mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 22nd February 2022

Are the values of education and entertainment truly compatible? Matthew Sweet asks if learning can or should be fun.

When we watch a high-end TV documentary do we learn anything? Or do we simply think we have? With lessons from the archive, this is an hour long look at the links between education and fun.

We attend Radio 4's King Street Junior for a historical re-enactment and go down Sesame Street, an early example of edutainment that worked. A 1970's adult education series called On the Move, with a young Bob Hoskins playing a removal man who has trouble reading and writing, helped enormous numbers of people with literacy problems. It accidentally became cult viewing in the process.

The same cult status was accorded to the first late night Open University broadcasts, although the values of good television and undergraduate teaching initially clashed, sometimes about the appropriate colour of shirts.

In his capacity as academic, Matthew talks to Dr Fern Riddell, whose PhD he supervised. Fern chose broadcasting and writing rather than lecturing or teaching as a career and she explains how injecting historical authenticity into TV dramas like Ripper Street might help us see past eras more clearly, if backed by the right research.

And, with the help of Harvard Professor of Education Meira Levinson, Matthew wonders whether Homer Simpson is an appropriate vehicle for the study of philosophy.

Meanwhile, are some of the ideals of Public Service Broadcasting changing in the digital age? Nowadays the strictly educational programmes like OU material and schools broadcasting are no longer part of the general broadcasting landscape, meaning we're less likely to stumble upon them. Put Public Service Broadcasting into a popular search engine and you might not end up learning about the BBC mission statement, but something completely different.

A Testbed production

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2018.