Teachers’ TV, a channel aimed at education professionals, is launching on digital television in the UK, without the interactive services originally promised.
Teachers’ TV, a channel aimed at education professionals, is launching on digital television in the UK, without the interactive services originally promised.
The Teachers’ TV channel will broadcast around the clock on satellite, cable and broadband, and overnight on terrestrial television. It will be supported by a web site, with downloadable resources including lesson plans and worksheets, and many programmes will also be available online.
When the service was formally announced back in the middle of 2004, the channel was to include “interactive services, enabling viewers to access further information about programmes, personalise their viewing and highlight what’s relevant to them on the schedule.”
Nigel Dacre, the chief executive of the company behind the service, said at the time “Teachers’ TV is not just another digital channel. It’s something completely new: a well-funded, interactive television service which will make a real difference to the working lives of people in one of the key industries in the country.”
“Teachers’ TV is a highly innovative way to make relevant professional support accessible to all those who work in schools,” said Schools Minister Stephen Twigg. “The channel is another key step forward in ensuring we make full use of digital technology to support teachers, teaching assistants, school governors and others in further raising standards in the classroom. By supporting educational professionals with a vision of good classroom practice, of good schools management in action, we can further improve standards throughout the system.”
With an annual budget of £20 million, the channel is funded by the government but editorially independent.
A representative of the Department for Education and Skills said that the specifications for the interactive TV service are still being developed and the intention is to launch an interactive service on digital satellite in the late summer, in time for the autumn term.