bitesize -...

Bitesize Diversity and Inclusion Commissioning Guidelines

Diversity and inclusion are at the heart of the BBC Bitesize mission. Our innovative and engaging digital content helps nearly three million students a week with their education. We believe in helping all young people to reach their potential. Engaging young people in learning means making content which is authentic and relevant and in which they can see themselves reflected. It also means offering a range of rich representations, aspirations and viewpoints, which help them to visualise and prepare for the future. BBC Learning is committed to building diverse and creative teams and, along with the wider BBC, we’ve set ourselves stretching targets for diversity and inclusion in our workforce as well as for on-screen portrayal. This is a joint challenge: we rely on our independent suppliers to deliver excellent content for our audiences. We’ve put together these guidelines to set out what our commitment to diversity and inclusion looks like in practice and to put in place some clear expectations and guidance to help us deliver it together. These guidelines include some clear processes we will follow to ensure diverse portrayal and representation on-screen alongside some guidance on good practice in building diverse teams.

Diversity and Inclusion Commissioning Guidelines

1

Paralympian Kare Adenegan, who appears in KS3 Maths content. Kare is a T34 Wheelchair Racer and represents Coventry and Great Britain in 100m-1500m.

We are tasked by the Royal Charter to ensure that our output represents and serves the diverse communities of the whole of the UK, accurately and authentically, with specific emphasis on reflecting under-represented communities, cultures and languages and all socio-economic backgrounds. Our charter also requires us to support learning for people of all ages and particularly children and teenagers in ways they will find accessible, inspiring, engaging and challenging.

The BBC Charter INTRODUCTION

We think about diversity and inclusion across all types of media: video, animation and infographics.

Characters for a KS2 Music commission.


2

WHO ARE THE BITESIZE LEARNERS? Bitesize’s commitment to diversity is not a box-ticking exercise. If we are to make excellent learning experiences for real audiences we need to have the learners themselves at the forefront of our minds. Bitesize’s audience is young: we serve 5-16 year olds in compulsory education across the nations of the UK and now also serve 16-24 year olds and other adult learners of maths and English in vocational contexts. We should assume that Bitesize’s primary and secondary school age audience is more diverse than the UK population as a whole because the population is becoming more diverse in younger generations.

The launch of our Functional Skills offer for 16+ learners brings class and socio-economic status into focus. The key audience segments here are 16-19 year olds and apprentices of any age. The ethnic profile is mixed, with around 22% BAME on 16-19 study programmes. But there is a clear picture of students from C2DE backgrounds being strongly represented and of educational aspirations which focus on employment and which don’t have university as a default option.

Supporting all aspirations

SNAPSHOT OF THE AUDIENCE

As a snapshot: in the 2011 census, 86% of the population of the UK identified themselves as “white”, whereas in the 2016 school census, 71% of children identified as “white” or were identified as such by their parents, falling to 68% at primary school. Up to 20% of primary school students and 16% of secondary students have English as an additional language. We know there are sizeable white, non-British minorities.


3

An automotive mechanic uses maths in a Bitesize Functional Skills guide.

* All Staff ** Leadership #Portrayal only

4


Workforce 2017 target 2020 target

Women n/a 50%

Disability 5.3%*, 5%** 8%

Black, Asian and ethnic minorities

14.2%, 10%** 15%

LGBT n/a 8%

On air portrayal 2017 target 2020 target

Women n/a 50%

Disability 5% 8%

Black, Asian and ethnic minorities

15%# 15%

LGBT n/a 8%

ON & OFF SCREEN: OUR TARGETS

The BBC’s objectives for diversity and inclusion encompass on-screen portrayal and addressing the makeup of our workforce.

When you submit a proposal to Bitesize, you will be asked whether you have a Diversity and Inclusion policy in place for your company. If you do not currently have a policy, a template is available from the Creative Diversity Network.

https://creativediversitynetwork.com/template-equality-and-diversity-policy/

Create your own diversity and inclusion policy

Set your own proportionate goals, thinking about:

Production teams: widen your pool of talent to include under-represented groups and make sure that hirers consider disabled talent’s skills and experience.

Entry level: how will you ensure that barriers to participation to new entrants from all backgrounds are removed? Think about industry schemes.

Senior roles: how will you equip talent from under-represented groups for senior roles? Think about development and coaching.

You can find practical suggestions to support you in the BBC Radio Diversity & Inclusion Commissioning Guidelines here:

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/bbc-radio-diversity-commissioning-guidelines.pdf


5

We recognise that many of Bitesize’s suppliers of video, animation and infographics are small independent companies and that the approach to addressing diversity in teams needs to be proportionate. The values which underpin our objectives and targets are about equality of opportunity for all and about recognising that diverse teams are creative teams, who can make the best content for our diverse young audiences. With that in mind, there are things you can do to support diversity and inclusion in your teams.

WORKFORCE DIVERSITY: WHAT YOU CAN DO





















Bitesize is committed to ensuring that all of our content, including live action, animation and infographics is diverse and representative of the lives of our young audiences. All of these aspects of diversity and inclusion are important to us:

A sizeable minority of 8-15s say that there are not enough programmes that reflect them and their lives. Children aged 8-11 are most likely to say this about programmes that show children who look like them (35%) and 12-15s are most likely to say this about programmes that show children who live in the same part of the country as them (41%).

Ofcom: Children and parents media use and attitudes, 2017

6


“

”

Black and minority ethnic (BAME) people.

Disabled people.

Gender.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

White, non-British minorities.

Geographical diversity and varied locations within the UK.

Differences in socio-economic status.

Regional voices.

Valuing varied roles and aspirations in life.

DIVERSITY IN PORTRAYAL: WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

A child speaking in a KS3 Science video.

DIVERSITY IN PORTRAYAL: AMBITIONS

We are asking you to: Represent a wide variety of backgrounds in scripted and unscripted content, authentically

representing the communities of the UK and allowing a broad range of children and young people to see themselves reflected in our content.

Think about diversity as it applies to live action video, animation, graphics and infographics, audio content and voiceover.

Consider geographical diversity – ensuring that locations and voices represent the communities of the UK.

Represent socio-economic diversity, showing a range of aspirations and roles as being of value.

Avoid stereotypes and tokenism: instead think about “incidental casting”.

Speak to learners in a tone which supports all social demographics to engage: a great teacher is authoritative but not patronising.

7


We are asking you to: Promote incidental casting across the diversity spectrum:

consider artists from all backgrounds regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, socio-economic background and geography for all roles.

Make sure your casting directors, researchers and educational consultants are aware of our commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Make auditions accessible: routinely ask talent whether they have access requirements in advance.

Ensure authentic portrayal when casting for an actor with a specific disability, making every effort to audition suitable disabled actors to play the role.

Widen the net for expert voices: the BBC’s Expert Voices Database is a useful resource.

8


TALENT AND CASTING GOOD PRACTICE

http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/work-in-broadcast/events/expert-voices-talent










9


When we advertise a brief for BBC Bitesize, we will ask you whether you have a Diversity and Inclusion Policy in place.

We will ask you to address diversity in any pitch to us and, if successful, will discuss specific measures

again with you at project kick-off. The BBC will maintain access to the Expert Voices Database. BBC Bitesize will be clear about specific diversity requirements of any commission where applicable

and engage in open dialogue about diversity and inclusion with all of our suppliers.

CHECKLIST THIS IS HOW WE MAKE IT HAPPEN TOGETHER

10


BBC Radio Diversity guidelines | http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/bbc-radio-diversity-commissioning-guidelines.pdf

BBC Diversity and Inclusion website | http://www.bbc.co.uk/diversity

BBC Expert Voices Database | http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/work-in-broadcast/events/expert-voices-talent

Creative Diversity Network Equality and Diversity Policy Template | https://creativediversitynetwork.com/template-equality-and-diversity-policy/

USEFUL LINKS











http://www.bbc.co.uk/diversity





















bitesize -...

Documents