British teachers will probably be the first profession to have a dedicated national television channel about their work.

Teachers’ TV aims to commission innovative programme formats aimed at helping teachers develop new insights into their practice, while offering practical suggestions for improvement. The channel will include a weekly news roundup on developments in education.

If successful, Teachers’ TV will be a major step towards enabling schools and teachers to improve their practice in an informal, self-directed form of learning. But how likely are teachers to want to watch television programmes about teaching, and if they did switch on what would they learn?

This report considers what is already known about how teachers learn and applies that knowledge to television. The authors conclude that if Teachers’ TV can offer provide a window on the classroom that enables teachers to view and discuss other teachers’ practice, it stands a good chance of capturing their imagination.

“Teachers’ TV is most likely to succeed if it manages to balance the need to trigger aspirational feelings in teachers, while levelling with them about the realities of the job. At the same time it will need to balance instructive professional development with entertaining TV formats.”