Spot the difference. Greg Dyke's first major speech as the BBC's director-general designate was about education: "I see this as one of my priorities for my period as DG." Later, in an impromptu defence of his extracurricular activities on Radio 4's Today programme, he was asked by John Humphrys what he would like to be remembered for at the end of his term. His response? That the BBC had made good programmes. This refreshingly simple reply will have delighted BBC producers. But, strangely, education did not get a mention on this occasion.
Will education be a dominating theme of Dyke's tenure? Or was his speech just another turn of the thumbscrew on government to jack up the licence fee? The answer is probably both.
The BBC's plans for digital services include an ambitious vision for online education. When I hear the word "vision", alarm bells go off in my head. The vision thingy can be inspiring or it can border on the megalomaniacal.
A recent presentation to the BBC's board of governors spoke of the corporation creating the first comprehensive digital resource for formal education, a one-stop shop for audio-visual material to challenge the Playstation generation. And the new DG's thoughtful public speech pointed to the power of interactivity in digital education. He said the BBC was "uniquely" placed to play a central role in helping to deliver the learning "vision" of the future.
"Unique" is another of those ultra-bold words, like vision, that unnerves me. Who is going to be allowed to plug their educational content into the National Grid for Learning - the network of computer hardware being established in Britain's schools? Will there be diversity or some Blairite (Orwellian?) solution from one massive supplier?
It is an issue that is nicely crystallised by a trial currently being carried out. Three contenders are having their interactive GSCE materials tested in schools. At stake is a department of education investment of up to £100m.
The contenders are the BBC, Granada and Anglia. They have all developed part of the maths syllabus and elements of one other subject - Granada's gone for science, the BBC for geography and Anglia for history. There's a lot riding on the outcome. The victors not only get the money but also first-mover advantage in a hugely lucrative market. Within a few years, schools television broadcasts will cease because all the material will be delivered online or via ADSL technology. Some of those who work in BBC Schools believe they have to win the trial in order to save their department.
But surely this should not be winner-takes-all. There has never been just one supplier of educational books. As long as the three trialists can demonstrate that their systems work, or can be made to work, they should all receive money. Teachers and pupils should have a choice.
Of course, the BBC has a central part to play. Education must be one of its key roles in the future. It may even guarantee the licence fee for a generation. Already BBC online services like GCSE Bitesize have shown how innovative and popular it can be. Bitesize also demonstrates how public money (the licence fee) can be deployed to cover the whole spectrum of the syllabus - both core subjects for which there will be strong demand and more fringe subjects which commercial operators might ignore. But despite these strengths the BBC itself agrees, when pressed, that there should be more than one flower in bloom.
Channel 4, another broadcaster with a public service remit, has ambitious online plans of its own for its particular constituency, the 16-24-year-olds. They already offer Homework High and are poised to launch further services aimed at "transitional moments" in the lives of this relatively poorly served age group. Pearson is both in television and education and can also be expected to play a heavyweight role.
At the other end of the scale are entrepreneurial initiatives such as Espresso. This is a start-up currently raising £10m of venture capital. It's the brainchild of Lewis Bronze who, in a previous life, was a long-serving editor of Blue Peter inside the BBC. He has developed software covering Key Stages 1 and 2 of the curriculum for children in primary schools. The Espresso product will need co-operation from the broadcasters.
Espresso's ambitions serve as a neat exemplar of some principles the government should not ignore. The emerging education market needs all the broadcasters, if they are willing to contribute. There should be a diversity of services fed into schools. And the BBC can play a very important role, but not the only one.
