Stefan Gibbons-Arif is the head of diversity and inclusion for Children’s and Education at the BBC. With considerable experience in television production, he has worked across various platforms and genres, including comedy and children’s television. Stefan is committed to ensuring that the BBC and the companies it works with produce original, diverse, and quality content. Stefan was a panellist at the recent Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield for a session entitled: Inclusivity Now: Beyond Box Ticking.
“It’s essential for the BBC to serve its entire audience authentically, fulfilling our public service mandate. As a parent, I want my children to see authentic diverse representations of families and individuals, giving them a broad, informed, and realistic view of the world.”
Educational background and career to date
I work in the Children’s and Education Department at the BBC. My journey in education content began as an assistant producer for BBC Bitesize, on the Mindset campaign, providing revision resources for GCSE students. My role included creating supportive, comedy-focused content to engage students. This was my initial foray into educational content production.
Since then, my career has evolved, and I am now the head of diversity and inclusion for Children’s and Education at the BBC. My role encompasses two main streams: creative diversity and workforce diversity. Although my focus leans towards creative diversity, ensuring a diverse workforce is integral to creating the best diverse content.
Authentically representing all children and families across the UK
In my current role, I collaborate closely with the entire Children’s and Education Department to support their creative processes. I support teams to ensure that our content authentically represents all children and families across the UK. This involves reviewing video content, graphics, scripts, and other materials to ensure inclusivity. Additionally, I manage the Children’s and Education Diversity Fund, aimed at increasing off-screen diversity by funding productions roles on BBC output.
When it comes to staffing, we strive for balanced representation with our 50:50 gender, 20% Black, Asian and minority ethnic representation, 12% deaf, disabled and/or neurodivergent representation and 25% lower socio-economic representation targets. We support various BBC initiatives like Extend, which ring-fences roles for people who are deaf, disabled, and/or neurodivergent.
Helping children feel represented and understood
Diversity in children’s television is crucial as it allows children to see themselves reflected on screen. Positive representation can profoundly impact children, helping them feel represented and understood. The BBC aims to reflect the diverse UK audience so that our content resonates with both children and parents.
Meet brand new Blue Peter presenter number 42 for the first time 💙
Abby Cook, the Falkirk wheelchair racer, is the newest member of the team. But first, she has to get her badge… 👀
📲 Blue Peter, today 5pm on @cbbc and @BBCiPlayer pic.twitter.com/oUyqe3aGMO
— BBC North PR (@BBCNorthPR) March 10, 2023
As part of our mission to inform, educate, and entertain, we ensure our content is diverse and inclusive. It’s essential for the BBC to serve its entire audience authentically, fulfilling our public service mandate. As a parent, I want my children to see diverse representations of families and individuals, giving them a broad and realistic view of the world.
Navigating challenges or pushback when advocating for diversity and inclusion
Promoting diversity and inclusion in production involves a multifaceted approach. The BBC’s Creative Diversity team supports productions in meeting our diversity commitments, including authentic portrayal and open, fair casting. We ensure audition spaces are accessible and actively seek diverse on and off-screen talent for our productions.
We have a 20% diverse production teams target across ethnicity, disability and lower socioeconomic backgrounds. I attend kick-off meetings to provide guidance to producers on how to achieve this.
We measure our progress through reports like the Diversity Commissioning Code of Practice, ensuring we invest in diverse content. The BBC’s commitment to inclusion is evident in our dedicated Creative Diversity team, which continually pushes for higher standards across all BBC content.
Male allies of inclusion
Male allies, whether in the entertainment industry or beyond, have a responsibility to promote gender equality at all levels. Positive representation of women and male allies who help to create an inclusive environment for all is essential. This extends to all aspects, such as equity when it comes to childcare and flexible working hours.
Male allies should challenge gender stereotypes and be aware of unconscious biases. This might involve noticing if women are being expected to take on administrative tasks in meetings and pushing back against such behaviours. Allies should also be open to feedback and willing to listen and learn from women’s experiences without defensiveness.
Firm foundations for children
Children’s content lays the foundation for their understanding of the world. It’s vital to portray gender balance and positive representation of both men and women. Avoiding stereotypes shown to children is key, including stereotyping in career choices, as this will help foster a more inclusive and equitable understanding from a young age.
How the Womanthology community can get involved
The Womanthology community can connect with me on LinkedIn and read the Diversity Commissioning Code of Practice report, which outlines our commitments and achievements in diverse content creation. The report includes a chapter on children’s content, showcasing our efforts and measuring our success.
Diverse audiences and authentic portrayal
We are developing our next set of creative diversity commitments, building on the work done over the past three years. I am excited about implementing these new standards and supporting teams in achieving even greater inclusivity.
Several new shows on CBBC highlight our commitment to diverse representation. For instance, “Nikhil and Jay” showcases a mixed heritage family, which resonates with my own family’s background. Another show, “Maddie and Triggs”, features a partially sighted girl and her adventures, emphasising accessibility through rich audio description.
Our goal is to continue serving diverse audiences with authentic portrayal in our content, ensuring that everyone feels represented and valued.
Header image — L-R: Dick (Kit Rakusen), George (Diaana Babnicova), Julian (Elliott Rose), Timmy (Kip The Dog), Anne (Flora Jacoby Richardson) (Image: BBC/BBC Studios/Yoshitaka Kono)
