BBC Education commissioning (2024)

Contact Helen Foulkes
Head of BBC Education, Newsround and BBC Food
Contact Cerys Griffiths
BBC Bitesize, BBC Teach and Campaigns
Contact Joe McCulloch
Tiny Happy People

Current opportunities

BBC Teach brief: Primary Geography

BBC Teach are commissioning six short films intended to support teachers deliver objectives of the Geography curriculum for pupils aged 7 to 11.

The deadline for ideas is 29 September 2024

Download the full brief (Word)

BBC Teach brief: Secondary Geography

BBC Teach are commissioning ten short films intended to support teachers deliver objectives of the Geography curriculum for pupils aged11 to 14.

The deadline for ideas is 29 September 2024.

Download the full brief (Word)

About BBC Education

We encourage independent production companies and education businesses to pitch for our briefs. We hold a commissioning day in April/May each year where we outline the majority of our commissioning plans for the financial year. Briefs are then added to this page throughout the year and an email alert is sent to our mailing list.

Responses to briefs should be submitted via email to the contact listed on the brief. Please note that we don’t use BBC Pitch. Shortlisted companies will be sent an invitation to a pitching meeting. The invitation will be made no later than three weeks after the closing date for submitting proposals. The commission will be awarded within six weeks of that date. Feedback will be provided to all participants.

Watch a recording of our latest briefing event below, and scroll down to find out more about our products.

A recording of our latest briefing event

Bitesize commissioning

Since 1998,BBC Bitesize has provided trusted, accessible study and revision support to generations of school students across the UK.

Bitesize is knowledgeable, approachable - and never patronising. Our content helps users to feel supported and confident while giving them the information they need to succeed. No matter what level the user is at, we want them to know we are there for them.

Bitesize was the top resource used by GCSE students taking exams in summer 2022 and rated most useful by them.

Bitesize curriculum content includes:

Detailed learner guides covering all the main GCSE and Scottish National and Higher subjects
High-quality interactive guides across a range of subjects for younger secondary students
Delightful and engaging primary-age videos, activities and guides for students aged four to 11
Popular educational games covering Maths, Science, English, Computing, History, Geography and more, at primary and secondary levels

All Bitesize content is kept up to date with the UK curricula to ensure accuracy and trustworthiness.

Each year we commission short-form video and animation, games, interactive content, graphics and text, for a range of subjects.

Bitesize also features Support and Careers content for inspiration beyond young people's academic studies, helping them to navigate the challenges they will face throughout their school lives and as they transition into adulthood, plus resources to help Parents.

Bitesize Support includes video-led articles offering guidance for young people on topics such as managing exam stress, choosing options and managing money.

Bitesize Careers offers a collection of text, video and image-based job profiles as well as articles about skills for work and returning to learning.

The Parents' Toolkit includes stories, expert advice and fun activities to help parents support children in a changing world.

Our briefs

Typically a commissioning brief will ask for a particular content format across a single subject. For example, animation for Key Stage 1 History or video case studies for job profiles.

Bitesize briefs are usually for a specific set of deliverables against agreed learning objectives for publication online.

Teach commissioning

BBC Teach is a dedicated teaching resource site which aims to support teachers by curating the best BBC videos, clips and other curriculum-related resources for use in the classroom. BBC Teach brings thousands of educational short films together on one site and is home to all of the BBC’s teacher-facing content: Class Clips, Live Lessons, School Radio and year-round school projects like Young Reporter and Super Movers.

Examples of successful content includeA Midsummer Night's Dream, Chinese New Year, Inside the Writer’s Mind, Time to talk about…, Zoom In, Zoom Out and The Colour of my Skin.

In addition to advertised commissioning opportunities, we are always interested to hear new ideas that can help with our commitment to provide quality teaching resources. These speculative ideas only need to be on an A4 page and cover the subject area, target age group/key stage and a brief explanation of the curricula need. These should be emailed to Alex Harris and Cerys Griffith.

Watch our showreel to see some of the content on BBC Teach.

Campaigns commissioning

BBC Education runs a wide variety of campaigns which all aim to address societal deficits and inspire behaviour change in our audiences.

In July 2020 we launched the biggest of these, Tiny Happy People, an initiative which supports parents and carers in developing the language and communication skills of their 0-4 year-old children. Its aim is to close the language gap and ensure that all children start school with the communication skills necessary to thrive. We have worked with a coalition of partners on Tiny Happy People including The Royal Foundation and the website includes a range of simple, engaging activities and play ideas to improve the development of speech in babies and young children.

Our other campaigns include:

The Regenerators is an environmental initiative from BBC Bitesize that aims to inspire children and families to live a greener life. The Regenerators website has a wealth of resources to develop understanding around sustainability and encourage children, teenagers and families to adopt a more sustainable way of living.

Moodboosters is an ambitious initiative which launched in November 2022 in partnership with Children in Need to support good mental health and well-being among primary aged children. Famous faces from across the BBC and beyond present play-along activity videos which help children to boost their mood, feel good, and use movement to help them understand their emotions and manage feelings. Each Moodboosters activity promotes wellbeing and supports curriculum learning, whilst helping children develop key resilience skills.

Other Side of the Story is a partnership between BBC News and BBC Education. The campaign delivers a combination of content and workshops that give 12-16 year-olds the tools to better understand the news they see and share online, and provide media literacy and critical thinking resources for students and teachers. The fun and engaging tutorials, explainers and quizzes help young people to develop a more critical eye on the content they consume.

Food commissioning

BBC Food is the most delicious part of the BBC website with over 10,000 inspirational recipes, how-to videos, articles on current food issues, health and diet advice. We publish recipes from programmes on the BBC as well as supporting our public service goals of encouraging healthy eating, teaching cooking skills and supporting audiences with variable dietary needs and budgets.

We are actively pursuing younger audiences with content and features that make it easy to learn to cook, whatever their budget, skill level and diet.

BBC Food is knowledgeable, but not stuffy, enthusiastic but not gimmicky, friendly but never patronising. Our content should make the user feel excited and inspired while giving them clear and simple instructions they need to cook. No matter what level they are at, we want them to feel that they can succeed.

Diversity is paramount, with different formats and styles serving a variety of audiences, keeping our content fresh and novel. Our content needs to combine entertainment and education, and the food always has to come first. Our audiences trust us to be reliable and accessible, but we have to tempt them with deliciousness.

Formats we have commissioned:

Social-first 9x16 shortform recipes, both presenter-led and hands-only
How-to techniques, such as how to poach an egg
Explainers of nutrition and sustainability issues
Step-by-step photos or stop-motion

We commission packages of short-form video content to support themed campaigns once or twice a year. These will be advertised on this website with detailed briefs outlining the specific audience and learning objectives we would like to meet. Content is usually developed in partnership with the editorial team, informed by user research and digital best practice. Please note we are not related to the magazine or website BBC Good Food.

Our diversity and inclusion commissioning guidelines

The BBC Education diversity and inclusion commissioning guidelines set out how we will work with suppliers to meet our ambitions for diversity and inclusion. Please consult these guidelines when responding to any of our commissioning briefs.

Download the guidelines (pdf)

Our diversity fund

We are committed to growing diversity within the broadcast industry and creating more opportunities for individuals from underrepresented groups behind the camera. To support this we have a diversity fund across BBC Children's and Education worth £200,000 per annum for projects that actively develop diverse off-screen talent through targeted initiatives which cannot be covered by the normal production budget.

Find out more about the fund

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