AIBU to think the Education Secretary interview with Gemma Collins was a mistake?

[PinkBobby]

I have just watched a clip on social media of the Education Secretary sitting down with Gemma Collins (of TOWIE fame) and cannot believe they thought that’s the conversation schools/parents/teachers/SEN children need to hear right. I have nothing against Gemma Collins and think she could probably give a few govt departments some useful, blunt feedback but this feels like a huge fail.

Interested to hear if anyone thinks this is a PR success or agree it totally misses the mark.

YABU - It was a great discussion and you’re being unfair.

YANBU - The chat totally misses the mark and highlights the divide between politicians and the real world.

Dear God I don't know quite what to say.

First I saw of it was the satire version. It’s such a bizarre time we are living in I actually thought that the Labour gov had produced it for a few minutes 😂

I'm a parent of a child with SEN who struggled to attend school because it was not an environment they could cope with.

I became very used to the fact that any "professional" involvement came with the starting assumption that the parents must be a problem family and not very bright. That's why they always insist on home visits to start with to see if frankly you live in a pig sty or not.

I assume the same assumption here is that us "problem" parents all watch rubbish like TOWIE and will therefore be delighted to see this celeb talking about our children, despite her having no experience of SEN issues at all.

It couldn't be further from my reality.

These were my first and only thoughts on this. You nailed it.

While I find the Gemma Collins stuff, ridiculous, irrelevant and completely vacuous, the woman from little mix who’s children are all over social media as you beautifully put it have been diagnosed with an incurable disease. She met with Wes streeting to try and use her fame and platform to help push the issue of adding testing for SMA to the panel of genetic testing offered at birth as the earlier it is diagnosed, the more options regarding treatment they have. It has now been added to the panel which is great.

Completely different

Yes - thank god she was at a petrol station so all of us air heads could understand what she was referring to.

The SEND reforms will be devastating cuts and parents are rightly really really worried. This video was tone deaf. But it is completely consistent with their total lack of understanding and poorly planned ‘reforms’.

Exactly this. Ffs 🤦🏻‍♀️

It was absolutely a mistake. Why not have someone interview her who actually has a SEND child? Surely that makes the most sense.

As for the woman from Little Mix, that makes perfect sense as her twin babies have a life limiting condition which has treatment options if it is diagnosed early enough and she has been raising awareness of that.

It was a mistake. Everything she does is a mistake. She is beyond awful.

Yes

Exactly - how did no one in that whole building question how this would land.

It really does suggest that they think we are all of bunch of idiots who will go “ooo look, shiny celeb lady. Bridget must be good if the GC hangs out with her.” Meanwhile, pretty much everyone working in education or sending their kids into school are literally begging for help/funding/support/understanding. This feels like the biggest “we are not listening” sign they could post.

I’m keen to hear from the 4% of people who think I’m being unfair as everything about it screams April fools to me. And yet here we are. It’s no wonder they’ve never brought back The Thick of It.

How can they think she represents sen parents

That’s what I wondered. Maybe that’s what we’re all supposed to be like?

i think DFE massively cocked this up. People are raging on social media especially SEN campaigners. I literally don’t understand what on earth they were thinking. What makes it worse is that Gemma has talked openly before about not seeing school as important and not really giving a shit. What better advocate to consult about our education system?

What is actually worse is the crazy tweet that Gemma put out in response to the backlash which was along the lines of ‘don’t worry babe I’m going to fix it all’.

That response has pissed people off even more from what I’ve seen and just shows she was never qualified to be having that sort of ‘chat’ in the first place.

Bizarre

I raise you this.. 😂

This is the first thing I saw and for a moment I actually thought this was what Labour had produced 😂😂😂

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0FeT6wB_VzE

To be fair, Gemma Collins’ IQ probably far exceeds that of Bridget Philipson.

Thing is, Gemma Collins is a joke. Her fans probably don’t vote as they can’t understand it so it’s backfired

Awesome!

Tbh: its points about education are sounder.

Phillipson is a thorough disgrace anyway, and just about everything this incomprehensibly perverse version of a Labour government says or does feels like a brutal satire by some conservative TV show.

Decided to show my 16 yo DS the clip and he asked who the intended audience was because he has absolutely no idea who Gemma Collins even is! I’m not sure, really? They’ve massively missed the mark either way.

Can I just congratulate you - if your 16yo doesn’t know who Gemma Collins is, you have certainly done parenting right 😬

Phillipson thinks that she's terribly relevant to young people because she's been on TOWIE and pops on TV every so often. But the reality is that few people under 30 have a clue who she is, let alone think she is someone they want to support.

The bit I’m even more confused about really is what on earth they were trying to promote. The Secretary of State has said everyone is being a kill joy and there needs to be more fun. Gemma seemed to just talk about being crap at maths. There wasn’t exactly any substance or call to action. I could perhaps get it if they were trying to promote something new and wanted to target a specific population but they’ve picked someone totally suited and it’s not even clear what the actual bloody message is. I think my interns at work would have done a better job structuring a comms campaign.

And yes Bridget, we deserve a bit of joy but my child’s school can’t afford glue sticks without asking for parental contributions so maybe you should fix the basics first before pratting about with influencers. I think she’s getting to be even more unpopular as an education secretary than Gove.