BBC Trust

Educate

Programmes such as Mr Tumble were seen as being great for helping children to learn about people who might be different than they are and is a great way to introduce people with disabilities and people from other religious or cultural backgrounds, which they might not otherwise encounter until they start school.  Mr Tumble also presents by using sign language which children can easily pick up and it’s fantastic for hearing impaired children. There were some concerns raised about the  language used on CBEEBIES – was it too complicated for the younger end of the target audience? Did the CBEEBIES programmes targeted at younger viewers assist with language acquisition?

Some of the group felt that there needed to be a better link between what their children learn at school and what they saw on television.  One of the group explained that she preferred her children to watch the Cyw strand on S4C as this had the Welsh language element that was missing from CBEEBIES.

Programmes such as ‘My CBEEBIES Garden’ were praised for teaching children about fruit and vegetables which was considered important, whilst other programmes were good for showing children how things worked. In this context participants made fond reference to Come Outside, featuring Pippin and Aunty Mabel, the flying presenter who piloted her own spotty aircraft to find out how things worked.

Programmes like Balamory and Teletubbies were listed as examples of those that show different parts of the UK (Scotland in Balamory’s case) as well as other parts of the world and provides an easy way for children to learn about other places without realising they were doing so.  However some argued that the more factual parts of those programmes bored the children who would lose interest or switch over during these points but there was also a recognition that this could be due to the fact that these segments were shown twice during the same episode).

CBEEBIES was praised for its positive action to encourage diversity and participants felt that it presented issues relating to diversity in a positive and natural way.

It was felt that the most effective programmes were the ones where children were learning, but didn’t realise they were doing it because the programmes were fun – much in the same way as when they play games on the CBEEBIES websites, which they are able to find and use easily.

One point raised by some participants was that younger girls and boys had a preference for different programmes (with Peppa Pig mentioned in the context of girls and Ben10 and Power Rangers – on non-BBC channels - for boys).

Educate

The BBC’s websites such as Bitesize was warmly praised as a useful educational resource for children.  It made it easier for children to complete some homework tasks and encouraged by schools that could trust it as a safe resource for children.  

Members of the group remembered watching Newsround when they were younger but felt that children “weren’t particularly interested in that type of thing” now. However, another participant said that a question about a news story had been raised in the classroom, which had led to a discussion with the teacher, and had proved a positive learning experience. 

Drama series, such as the Tracey Beaker strand, were popular according to a number of participants, though others felt that it provided a poor example of behaviour and exemplified poor language  and a poor ‘attitude’ which was no model for children to follow.

The response of participants to both channels was general positive, though it was clear that they felt there was a gap in provision – particularly in the middle of the 2-12 age group, with neither CBEEBIES or CBBC catering adequately for those around 6-8 years old – “I feel that my children are too old for CBEEBIES and too young for CBBC, and there needs to be some kind of ‘in-between’”.

Many participants also felt that both channels were very English in their approach and didn’t adequately reflect all four nations of the UK.

Some participants felt that there was now too much merchandise associated with the BBC children’s channels and that it was now more money orientated. Others felt that, compared to other commercial children’s channels, the BBC channels were a haven from commercialism. Several other participants felt that the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon were perceived as ‘cool’ channels by children thanks to the USA originated content and that this meant that they were more likely to watch those than the BBC children’s channels.

Many participants said that a key positive of the BBC children’s channels was that fewer programmes were repeated than on other children’s channels.

There was a general appreciation of the BBC’s other output, in terms of on-line, radio, and, on TV, its factual, comedy, drama and news output. Some participants felt however that their trust in the BBC had been delivered a blow recently with one participant considering the BBC’s news output biased towards the left. Several participants felt that there was inadequate world news in the main channels’ news output. Many other participants disagreed and still considered the BBC to be the source of impartial, trusted news.

Several participants thought that the BBC would benefit from having a “BBC One+1” channel like many other broadcasters.