Educational television or Learning show is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. It may be in the form of individual television programs or dedicated specialty channels that is often associated with cable television in the United States as Public, educational, and government access (PEG) channel providers.

There are also adult education programs for an older audience; many of these are instructional television or "telecourse" services that can be taken for college credit. Examples of these include Open University programs on BBC television in the UK.

Many children's television series are educational, ranging from dedicated learning programs to those that indirectly teach the viewers. Some series are written to have a specific moral behind every episode, often explained at the end by the character that learned the lesson.

In the social aspects of television, several studies have found that educational television has many advantages. The Media Awareness Network, explains in its article, The Good Things about Television, that television can be a very powerful and effective learning tool for children if used wisely. The article states that television can help young people discover where they fit into society, develop closer relationships with peers and family, and teach them to understand complex social aspects of communication.

Educational Television (Chinese: 教育電視), shortly known as ETV, is a series of educational television programmes jointly produced by Radio Television Hong Kong and the Education Bureau (formerly the Education and Manpower Bureau / Education Department) of Hong Kong. ETV has been an auxiliary means for teaching the primary and secondary school curriculum on television since the early 1970s. ETV programmes change with the curriculum from time to time, covering a wide spectrum of topics. Programmes are broadcast during daytime non-peak hours on the English channels of TVB and ATV from Monday to Friday, during the 32 weeks of the school year. As the popularity of the Internet has increased, ETV has made its programmes available on the World Wide Web on demand.

History

ETV began with the primary school curriculum and developed gradually. In 1972, the first programme was aimed at Primary 3 students. It extended one level up yearly and covered Primary 6 in 1974. In September 1976, ETV started to cover junior secondary school. It began with Secondary 1 and reached Secondary 3 in 1978. There was no major change in range until 1999. ETV extended to Primary 1 and 2 in junior primary and Secondary 4 and 5 on selected topics in senior secondary school. In 2000, ETV also began to broadcast Teacher Resource Programmes for teachers.