Adult education and school programs: The two co-funded ABC Educational TV Services

The traditional role of the ABC in supporting education has become more complicated under new funding arrangements to support programs for schools and to introduce adult education. Various options and directions for childrens' and adult education have been debated for some time in the ABC but the present solution incorporates some fascinating elements that had not been foreseen. It has been clear, since 1990, that there was a funding short-fall that would place the future of ABC school broadcasts at risk but the solution adopted is both novel and effective. This article considers how the two education services have come about in the ABC. It ponders how they have gained support in a period of reduced Federal government funding for the ABC when the future of educational broadcasting looked bleak. It also examines how some of the long debated issues, of the role of the ABC as a provider of national educational resources, have been resolved.