1. Features
2. Best TV Channel for Children’s Education

We took a look through the most popular kids’ TV channels in the UK to find out which one airs the most ‘educational’ shows each week.

After the BBC announced that it was to begin showing three hours’ worth of educational content each morning on its CBBC channel, we wanted to definitively find out ‘which TV channel is the best for children’s education?’

Scouring the TV guide across a two-week schedule (Monday to Friday only), we found out that Nick Jr. is the channel that airs the most educational content on a weekly basis, showing 8 hours and 15 minutes of programmes each day that can be described as such.

Next on the list were CBeebies and CBBC, which show 4 hours and 3 hours 38 minutes of educational programmes each day, respectively.

When looking at educational content as a proportion of children’s programming, Nick Jr. (69%) still came out on top, but Channel 5 (50%) came second, with CBeebies (33%) and CBBC (30%) coming next, and CITV (1%) and POP (0%) bringing up the rear.

What’s more, we found that Netflix has the highest amount of educational content in its programming for kids out of the streaming services, with 24% of shows tagged as ‘children & family’ containing informative content. In comparison, Amazon Prime (18%) and Disney+ (16%) lagged somewhat behind.

Alongside this research, we have also created a guide for parents with children unable to access the internet while being homeschooled, to highlight the deals available and assist as much as possible.

Methodology

• The team noted down the programmes shown across a two-week schedule, Monday to Friday, for CBeebies, CBBC, CITV, Channel 5, Pop and Nick Jr.
• For CBeebies, CBBC and CITV, all programmes were looked at during the hours the channels operate
• For Nick Jr. & Pop, programmes were looked at between 7:00 and 19:00
• For Channel 5, only the children’s programming was looked at, between 6:00 and 9:15 each day
• To ascertain whether a programme is educational or not, the team used the Common Sense Media rating, with any show with a rating of 3 or more on the educational value scale counted
• Where review not available, the programme’s listing and genre on its channel’s website was used to judge
• The combined duration of educational programming was divided into the total showtime for the week, to work out the percentage

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