Greg Dyke is facing his first strike as Director-General of the BBC amid claims of dumbing down and political interference.
Staff could be balloted as early next week over plans to dismantle the BBC's education department, seen by many as the guardian of the corporation's public-service remit. The move will be embarrassing for Dyke, who promised to put learning at the centre of the BBC's mission when he took over in February. A strike could lead to the severe disruption of BBC programmes if union members from other departments refused to cross picket lines.
The closure of BBC Education will also compound claims that Dyke is taking the corporation down-market by moving the Nine O'Clock News and the current affairs flagship Panorama away from prime-time slots.
Under Dyke's plans for education, schools programmes would no longer be made by a specialist department. Some staff would be redeployed to the BBC Child-ren's Department, where they would work on improving the educational content of programmes such as Blue Peter and the consumer show Sorted .
Others would work on educational material for mainstream shows with a strong learning element: Walking With Dinosaurs and Simon Schama's History of Britain have been mentioned as perfect vehicles for the new approach.
Staff have also raised their concerns about plans to deliver the Government's national curriculum on the internet. They believe this could compromise the independence of the BBC's educational output.
An emergency meeting with the main broadcasting union, Bectu, last week failed to avert industrial action and the BBC has now been given seven days' notice of a ballot.
An open letter to the BBC's director of education, Mich-ael Stevenson, to be published in the in-house paper Ariel later this month, will spell out the education department's fury at the changes: 'If we are to really put education at the centre of BBC output ( pace Greg Dyke) this will never be achieved by scattering its key production staff to the four winds.
'When Greg's reforms have sought to heal the divisions of recent years and give power and confidence back to programme makers, how do you think those of us feel who've been left out?'
Bectu spokesman Robert Aldbury said: 'Education is the public service conscience of the BBC. If you can simply offload it onto the internet, what does that say about the rest of the organisation?'
The BBC told The Observer it was determined to press ahead with the reforms that, it said, proved Dyke was committed to moving education out of a specialist ghetto.
A spokeswoman said: 'This is not about dumbing down. The philosophy is that education and learning should be part of the mainstream output of the BBC. Education is now central to its mission.'
