The Educational Recording Agency Limited

The principal activity of the company is the issuing of licences for educational use of copyright works and performances to educational bodies in return for licence fees which, after deduction of expenses, are distributable to members. The use of broadcast materials in class by teachers and lecturers is a powerful tool for enhancing teaching and learning at all levels of education from primary to tertiary. Television and radio content provides a highly effective means of explaining and illustrating complex facts and ideas, engaging interest and stimulating debate amongst students of all ages and in all areas of study, both academic and vocational. ERA’s primary strategic objective is to maximise the value that licensees derive from the ERA Licence by providing educators with both the knowledge and means to exploit the powerful pedagogical benefits that can be derived from integrating broadcast resources into wider teaching and learning. The principal way in which it does so is by improving ease of access to the widest possible ERA Repertoire by ERA Licensees. Historically, ERA has given its approval to third parties to make broadcast recordings available through digital platforms to licensed educational institutions under the terms permitted under section 35 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. It continues to welcome requests from reputable organisations serving the educational sector to enter into similar third-party arrangements. However, in recent years it has also developed a growing collection of online services designed to help staff and students of licensed institutions to identify and access recordings of carefully curated broadcast content to support and enhance teaching and learning. ERA’s online educational resources are all free and hence support the aim of reducing the cost and ease of access to ERA Repertoire. The primary services currently available from ERA include a Video Streaming Platform, the BBC Shakespeare Archive Resource, the BBC Literary Archive and the Natural Curriculum, all of which have attracted a large and growing number of users across the UK. In addition, clips from the ERA Video Streaming Platform are now available through RETEACH and The Educational Platform, free online educational services offered by two third-party providers (ALCS and CLA respectively), thus making it easier for educators to access different forms of educational content from a single source, thus saving valuable time. ERA takes it responsibilities to the education sector in the UK extremely seriously and will continue to ensure that the ERA licence helps facilitate improvements in teaching and learning throughout the country.