REPORT OF THE BJTC ACCREDITATION PANEL
National Broadcasting School, Brighton
NBS Diploma
Wednesday July 18th 2007
COURSE STRUCTURE
The structure is relatively simple – an intense 11 week, purely vocational course which concentrates on radio journalism skills alone and is run in parallel with a complimentary course in radio presentation – as the course develops, students from each pathway work together to deliver a full service local radio station, Red FM. Some of the teaching is delivered jointly, which ensures that the presentation students, as well as the journalists, leave with a very good grasp of media law. There is a longer term aspiration, and indeed possibility, that if the depth and quality of the PA and Law elements of the presentation course were stepped up to the same level as the BJ, this course could also be considered for accreditation.
The students work a full five and a half day week, and there are arrangements with Southern FM, as well as the independent Brighton station Juice FM and others , for students to help with news, sport and other programmes.
At the end of the 11 weeks, the students leave for a three week work placement, before entering full time employment. The NBS are thus able to run three full courses a year, starting in January, April and September.
COURSE CATEGORY
For the purposes of accreditation this course will be categorised as Single Media (Radio)
COURSE FEES
The standard fee is £3,510, plus VAT.
STAFFING
The main broadcast journalism teaching is delivered by Rory McLeod who is an experienced broadcast journalist and radio executive, having been managing director of the local ILR station Southern FM for many years and later of Southern Radio plc, the quoted group created by the merger of Ocean Sound, Southern FM and Invicta. He was also managing director of LBC. He worked as a journalist in several stations. He also works as a freelance for BBC Radio network news. His wife Barbara, who has nearly 30 years experience in BBC broadcast journalism, also provides some additional teaching support, and is potentially there to provide back up and support in the event of illness or indisposition.
The NBS has its own voice coach, Judith Phillips, who also teaches at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Matt Silver is a senior BBC network radio producer who teaches software and production skills.
NEWS WRITING
As with our visits last year, the quality of the core writing that we listened to and read was again of an accomplished standard, and to a standard which would make the students immediately employable at any radio station. And by way of proof one of the students had produced and presented the afternoon news and the ten minute main news summary on the Hastings station, Arrow FM the previous week – eventually handling the afternoon and evening shift on her own.
RADIO JOURNALISM
During the course of the last three visits we have heard a range of very good radio journalism pieces in the form of bulletins, voicers, interviews and longer form features and programme pieces. The current policy of concentrating unremittingly on core radio journalism standards has paid dividends and should be maintained.
VOICE TRAINING
The voice trainer is Judith Phillips, who teaches at a number of London drama colleges. She has high grade skills.
The students have an hour and a half of voice training each week, and this is a mixture of group and individual work. This is obviously far in excess of the basic BJTC requirement, but it is likely to show substantial dividends – and the quality of the news reading we heard, was again very accomplished, if a little hurried in one case.
FEEDBACK
There is very good immediate and more considered long term feedback from the course team. The students confirmed that feedback was of a very high standard, and given the small numbers the quantity and the detail of the feedback is very good.
TECHNICAL PROVISION
There have been no major changes in this area, nor or any planned when the studios and the newsroom move next door.
LAW AND BROADCAST REGULATION
The students are tested each week after each tutorial. They are also now required to take two flash tests, which are delivered sight unseen at short notice. The first test is built around 20 news scripts each of which has a deliberate legal error. The second test is a more conventional examination questionnaire which tests everything they have learned over the course.
Regulation is also taught as a specific unit in the law module. Under the current structure regulation is dealt with in a single, but full day. However, in future, it will be delivered over a series of lectures. It is fair to say that the BJTC is concerned that knowledge of regulation is still not as thorough across all accredited courses as it should be, and following a number of recent cases – the Queen’s phoney walk out on RDF, being only the most high profile – it is likely that, in future, the BJTC Accreditation will require some form structured testing of regulation. That said, the students here seemed very confident in their own knowledge of the subject – and we suspect that in terms of quantity, many other accredited courses do not specifically devote so much time to this vital subject.
MEDIA AUDIENCES AND MARKETS
Students are introduced to the work of the CRCA, RAB as well as understanding the operation of RAJAR and other audience measurement techniques and their relationship to programming strategies. We note that the course also receives regular news briefings from the RadioCentre, which encourages the students to keep in touch with broader industry developments. We also found both the current students very media aware and inquisitive, which is a major asset.
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSESSMENT
The students are tested every week on their law. The pass mark is 70%. We only wish this was a national standard we could apply through the BJTC Accreditation Guidelines.
EXTERNAL EXAMINERS
Keith Belcher has now acts as the external for the written and examined elements.
STUDENT SELECTION
The school’s policy is to accept only graduates, though in exceptional circumstances non graduates may be considered if they can demonstrate substantial experience in other forms of journalism.
All applicants are invited to the school and are interviewed individually and are also given an opportunity to speak to existing students, as well as getting to know the equipment.
STUDENT FEEDBACK
We met two of the three students on the current course – they were both very confident and outgoing and showed considerable personal skills. Both were exceptionally positive about the course – we noted on one of the feedback form that every lecturer had received a 10 out of 10 rating. In addition there are glowing testimonials and recommendations from many previous students on the NBS website.
We also note with approval, that for both the students, the BJTC accreditation was an important determining factor in their decision to come to the NBS – though the most significant was the intimacy and the compact nature of the course.
PLACEMENTS/INDUSTRY FEEDBACK
This summer’s students have very good work placements with Capital and IRN in London, as well as doing shifts as other smaller local radio stations. Feedback from employers remains very positive.
Though these placements are for only two weeks, we noted that the students were keenly pursuing other potential work placement opportunities, including sounding out members of the panel for future opportunities, as well as working occasional shifts with local station – again full marks for their charming commitment.
The course has also introduced a new student and employer feedback form, which is also operating effectively.
CAREER/VOCATIONAL OUTCOMES
The outcomes continue to be impressive. Rory McLeod estimates that up to 80% of the graduates are finding a job in radio and journalism, which by the present BJTC standards accredited courses that is a very high rate.
Of recent graduates, one is working for the BBC Radio national newsdesk, one is working for Radio 4, another for BBC News Online, another was one of two picked from 3,000 applicants for a full year’s traineeship at the BBC. Others are in BBC local radio. On the commercial side, one is working at Southern FM, Rachel Tregenza who was on the course which ended in December 2006, is working as a reporter and newsreader with Original FM in Southampton.
CLOSING COMMENTS
The course is delivering tangibly, and indeed audibly good results. It’s worth adding that the panel felt that each time it has come to Brighton there has been at least one student, and sometimes two, who most of the main stream post graduate courses would die for. To achieve that with cohorts of no more than four students is remarkable. We trust that as the reputation of the course grows there will be even more.
We are also delighted to see this compact and intensive model of delivery now working so well – and yes, 11 weeks was just a bit too short and we are delighted that Rory has accepted this and bumped it out to 13 weeks from January 2008 – and that may well be a model for other courses elsewhere. With the ever rising cost of higher education, we are convinced that more potential students will be looking for a course which delivers in roughly half the time of a conventional course, and at a cost which is at the lower end of the scale for a post graduate qualification.
In some other respects, the course is now setting standards and benchmarks which other accredited courses would do well to follow, particularly in the quality and the quantity of voice training and in the new commitment to regulation. Furthermore, there does seem to be a far greater awareness of the radio industry and the way it operates than is the case with some other courses, but that is almost taken as read, given Rory’s background.
At the end of this visit the panel could find little that it was not very satisfied with.
We therefore have no hesitation in recommending a first full three year period of accreditation, without conditions or qualifications.
PANEL RECOMMENDATION
The panel will recommend to the council of the BJTC, at its next meeting in October that the course should be accredited for period of three years from June 1st 2007 through to May 31st 2010.
