Gogglebox star launches new TV competition for children with BSL interpretation

Baasit Siddiqui has been on our television screens for over 5 years now, as a valued part of the award winning Channel 4 show, Gogglebox. But away from his Gogglebox sofa, Baasit has worked in education for fifteen years and his organisation – Siddiqui Education – has recently launched an online workshop and competition which is BSL interpreted!

The competition, Lets Pitch It, asks participants to come up with a brand new television show and create a trailer for it. The online workshop provides participants with the skills and resources needed to submit their entry and deaf children from KS1 and KS2 are encouraged to get involved along with their families too.

I caught up with Baasit to find out more!

Hi Baasit! Some of our readers may recognise you from C4’s Gogglebox series, but can you tell us more about you and Siddiqui Education?

I’ve worked in education for close to fifteen years now, I was a secondary school teacher for ten years. My subject speciality was ICT, business and computer science. I really think my passion for education, business and digital technology led to me setting up Siddiqui Education almost three years ago now. Through my business. I visit schools, colleges and Universities up and down the country delivering talks, workshops and competitions. My main aim is to build aspirations and confidence of the students that I work with and give them further information about the amazing opportunities that are out there when you link the world of education with the world of work.

Tell us more about Let’s Pitch It – is this the first time the project has run?

Let’s Pitch It was the first workshop and competition I created when I set up my business. I’ve been delivering physical workshops for three years now. With Covid preventing me from delivering the workshop physically in schools, it gave me the opportunity to create a digital version for school children but also as a family project.

The workshop involves children and their families planning an idea for a television show and creating a two minute trailer to show off that idea. It’s all about using transferable skills such as collaboration, communication, digital literacy and a bit of creativity to think of and promote a new television show concept.

I’m very lucky to have used the connections I have in the television industry to use the language and base my tasks around authentic aspects of the television industry. I really want the kids and people who get involved to know that all the skills they use in this project are used not only in school but also in the working world.

Lets Pitch It is a National Competition that runs once a year. The grand prize is a trip to London, however with Covid, we are changing that and have a number of competitions this year with the prizes being spending vouchers, some goods for the schools and families that take part and win as well as a chance to meet me, my dad (Sid) and my brother (Umar) who are regulars on Gogglebox.

Have you worked with or delivered projects to deaf/hard of hearing children/adults before?

I’ve never worked exclusively with a cohort of deaf/hard of hearing children before. There have been occasions where I’ve had children within my class who have been hard of hearing or deaf. In those instances I’ve been guided by teachers and the students on how best to communicate with the students.

There have been a number of times where I’ve had to use an audio device and ensure I switch it on and off when speaking to the child. On one occasion I felt guilty for forgetting to switch the device on and off and knew it wasn’t easy for this child to ask a stranger to switch the device on.

Having worked in education for so long, you constantly reflect on what you are doing and how you are suiting the needs of the children you work with. After that first encounter, I made it my point to build the child’s confidence in me, and let her know to almost tell me off if I forgot to switch the device on or off. It was nice to see by the end of the session she felt much more happy and more involved in the session because I took the time to make sure she knew I wanted her to be involved even if it meant her throwing a certain look my way or giving me a nudge.

What made you want to be more accessible to BSL users/deaf children in Lets Pitch It? 

The story above is in part the reason why I wanted to try and include deaf children and their families more in my Let’s Pitch It workshop. It was always in the back of my mind after that encounter where I felt there were opportunities deaf children and children with deaf family members were missing out on. However what brought it more to light was a chance encounter with a potted plant.

My wife’s family, not so long ago, started a new florist business. I remember on the day we opened, a lady called Sarah Gatford, who I had met a couple of times at networking events came to show her support and bought a potted plant. We were not necessarily friends, more like mutual acquaintances who have small businesses. Sarah is a BSL interpreter and after she came to the shop we met and shared more about our businesses and passions. Ultimately we both had a passion for building aspirations and confidence, for me its children and for Sarah it is the deaf community.

Literally within a few weeks we were in lockdown and when I started to develop my digital version of Let’s Pitch It, I decided to get in touch with Sarah to ask if it was possible for her to sign the help videos. I’m really pleased she said yes as all the resources we’ve created were made in lockdown with a lot of texts, emails and large videos files being sent between us.

What was done differently (if anything) to make your project accessible to deaf children? What was this process like?

I created the initial help videos for my workshop which is like me teaching the workshop but just through the screen. I advise children and their families when to play the video, when to pause to answer a question, to have a discussion or complete a task. I sent that video to Sarah and asked her to interpret it and record the interpretation. I then put Sarahs video in the corner of mine as an overlay so she can be seen translated throughout.

As well as this, there is the option for captions for the video, these can be toggled on and off as I appreciate not all children and families will necessarily want both the interpretations and captions at the same time.

One thing I’m so grateful that my time in teaching has led to is I really try to make a point of making all my resources as accessible as possible. If someone is running the competition without a laptop, there are ways to do it on the smartphone, if they haven’t got regular access to any digital device, the majority of the workshop can be printed. When I created the BSL version I had a similar mindset and really tried hard to make sure everyone would feel comfortable enough to get involved.

Do you have any views on deaf children accessing opportunities like this in general? Has it given you an understanding of steps you can take to make future projects accessible too?

When I launched the competition and prior to doing so, a lot of people in the education community really commended the idea and said it was great to see something so inclusive. I’ve been a part of the education community in some form for over ten years and although feedback like that is great, for me, the real sense of whether or not this is successful and something to continue will be feedback from the deaf community.

That is why I am so grateful to you for helping me spread the word and letting the community know this opportunity is out there. This competition is running until the 31st of October and I’m excited to get feedback on what can be done to make it more accessible. I know with anything that is done for the first time there will be little niggles, things that need further thought and explanation.

If a family wants to take part – can you run us through the steps they need to take to contact you/register and take part in the training?

Lets Pitch It can be accessed for free by clicking this link https://courses.siddiqui-education.co.uk/courses/lpi-bsl. As soon as a family has signed up they are guided to the video and booklet. The video is used to help you complete the booklet which talks through how to plan an interesting team name and what information you need to include for your television show idea.

What I love about this workshop is nothing is off the table. The more creative, weird and wonderful the better. The digital workshop also shows you where and how to upload your completed booklet and two minute video. This can be done on a laptop, tablet or phone. I am always happy to answer any questions as I want families involved to feel they were supported as much as possible so if there are any further questions please do email me on baasit@siddiqui-education.co.uk.

What’s next for you and Siddiqui Education?

I’ve got a number of exciting workshops for children and teacher training sessions I’m adding to my digital platform. I love the link between education and the world of work and am continuing to create workshops around media, gaming, podcasting and other exciting workshops.

With regards to the teacher training side, I pride myself on ensuring my resources are as inclusive as possible so I continue to develop sessions to inform teachers on what issues disadvantaged students face in all their forms and what we as educators can do about it.

Do you have any more projects in the pipeline that deaf people can get involved with?

I am very fortunate to be able to collaborate with people like Sarah and amazing sponsors such as 2Simple, Blue Sky Education and Teacher Active to help me make my workshops more accessible to the deaf community. If there is a need for it and we find this competition and my platform is accessible to the deaf community then I would be more than happy to ensure all my digital content is created with the deaf community in mind.

The BSL interpreted Lets Pitch It online workshop is free until 31st October! To find out more or to take part in the online workshop and competition, go to www.siddiqui-education.co.uk/online