The ABC is expanding its educational programming to help with homeschooling amid the coronavirus pandemic.
From Monday 14 April – with students having started Term 2 or about to, depending on their location – the ABC will extend its educational programming on ABC ME to support children and caregivers at home, from 10am to 3pm each weekday.
There will be primary school content in the mornings and secondary school content in the afternoons.
Programs include Ecomaths, ScienceXplosion, Numberblocks and English on the Go.
ABC Education is working with state and territory education departments and other education providers to deliver additional curriculum-linked content to children of all ages.
ABC Managing Director David Anderson said the national broadcaster was ready to launch the extra resources.
“With so many Australian children now studying at home or preparing to do so, the ABC is boosting its support for students, teachers and parents to help young Australians receive the education they need,” he said.
Parents and caregivers can also access ABC educational content online.
The ABC will offer additional online support through its portal ABC Education. There you can find more than 4000 free videos, interactive resources and games mapped to the Australian curriculum covering subjects such as English, maths, science, history, geography, media Literacy, financial literacy and the arts and technologies, including STEM.
ABC Education is also creating original teacher-led mini-lessons, which will be broadcast on the ABC Education portal and ABC ME, to support students learning at home.
The NSW and Victorian education departments have provided initial financial assistance to help produce this content.
Behind The News (BTN) is also ramping up its vital education offering.
BTN will expand its network of rookie reporters delivering news, views and opinions via mobile video, so that kids who are working remotely or in isolation will still have a voice in the news.
Parents will also be able to access BTN’s teaching resources and lesson plans in the “teachers” section of the BTN website.
ABC iview’s enhanced collection of education content features programs across multiple subject areas, including BTN, The Storybuilding Tool Kit, This Place, Citizen Code and Teenage Boss.
There’s also content for preschoolers on ABC Kids, ABC Kids listen and the ABC Early Education website. This includes Reflective Journal blog posts for educators and shows and podcasts across the five curriculum areas of family, community and culture, sustainability and nature, creativity and self-expression, STEM and health and wellbeing.
Special collections of learning content and family activities are also available on the ABC Kids app and ABC Kids Community Facebook page.
