Upbringing

Childhood, Family & Alternative Education in a Transitioning World

- key aspects -

archiving to reimagine

family
childhood
(as the first stage of defining our place in society, both individually and collectively)

(ways we perceive) learning
development & change
coming of age
play

cosmopolitanism - coming from one country, living in another, studying in another

human interaction and group dynamics being formed
(parents/children, siblings, wider family, students/mentors)

homeschooling (currently becoming both popular & illegal)
education & alternatives (privilige?)

parenting
community-based living
natural vs artificial context
open & closed systems
differentiation vs standardisation
individualism within interconnectedness

family archive

conversations

photography

film documentary

publication

What if we reflect for a moment on a system that fundamentally shape humanity,
and question its credibility for the world we live in today?

Doubting current practices might bring a sense of discomfort. Why question what we already know as standard? Why complicate the few things that are fixed, exactly so we do not need to think about them?
Why not focus on ‘what really matters’, what we make with the life we are given? There are specific reasons for which the norm is the way we have learned to accept it. Doubting it breaks a certain illusion of safety. I can say firmly that the most valuable practice I adopted from my parents is to constantly question that norm. To seek an understanding of the core functions and means behind structures that we often think of as obvious. Most importantly, I have learned to reflect upon how these systems relate to myself as an individual, to identify what is beneficial for me and what is not. Upbringing has become an ongoing personal research, revolving around the topics of childhood and learning. Specifically, it questions notions of freedom within education. Through my photographic practice, I share narratives of children growing up in free environments. Together with the following written research, based on my personal experience with alternative education, I hope to create space for discussions on how freedom manifests itself in upbringing. Indeed, what is the right amount of freedom in a child’s education? Is there a right amount? A way to ‘practice’ learning which fits all people, all contexts? Should there be? How linked is it to the individual, then? To what extent does one’s education should be personalised? For me, these questions are not only fascinating, but feel rather important to reflect upon. When in attempt to answer these, I believe there are many critical understandings to discover.

Upbringing (2010-2020) is a documentary series about childhood as the first stage of defining our place in society, both individually and collectively. It is a study of pure human interaction and group dynamics being formed. The particularity of these children lies in their alternative models of educational environments, in which a sense of playful curiosity stimulates development, change and learning. Growing up unschooled with 4 younger siblings, I began to photograph at age 13, documenting our daily life. Unschooling advocates learner-chosen activities as a primary means for learning. It embraces the changing interests and creativity of children, in comparison to the rigid structure of typical mainstream education. The project expanded in 2014, as I began documenting the community of homeschooling families in France, Israel and The Netherlands. In 2018, I photographed the Montessori school De Korg in Rotterdam, and aim to explore other alternative structures in the future. This initiated a conscious desire to highlight the multiplicity of innovative educational forms, and the importance of such variety in a changing world.

Upbringing is an open invitation to take an active look at the world around us, a contemplation of those in-between moments that make up our daily lives. I hope to create space for discussion about our perception of the educational process, especially when learning is found in all aspects of life. Upbringing celebrates the search for innovation in education, the possibility of growing up with a sense of freedom.

Interview about being with siblings during lockdown

I was wondering when we would all be together again. It has become so rare for all of us to be home at once, for more than a few days. Yet suddenly, out of nowhere, we are all here: 5 siblings, 2 parents, 7 cats and a dog. It felt like a time traveling tunnel, bringing us ten years back. The old jokes, habits of interaction and group dynamics felt familiar and reassuring—a family recharging its batteries.

My camera was redirected at my four younger siblings: Nina (20), Michael (18), Jonathan (15), and Sara (13), who used to be my primary models when I was starting out with photography. For as long as I can remember I would observe and document our daily banalities. Then once again during lockdown, from mid-March till mid-May, when we only went out for groceries, jogging and walking our dog Ringo.

The sibling group bubble not only came back, but became our main occupation. We opened up the archive and looked at stills and videos we’ve made in the past years. As children, we used to film each other as a form of game–we would pretend to be journalists on news shows, sellers making ads for random products or musicians in music videos.

We grew up with an informal learning philosophy, as opposed to the traditional school system. My siblings have been my primary subjects in terms of human interaction, especially during those in-between moments of daily life. The conversation about the candy bars came up at the beginning of the lockdown. We had just finished a marathon of Tarantino films and the opening scene of Reservoir Dogs got stuck in my head—a group of characters, sitting around a table, talking about insignificant topics. I liked this indirect way of unfolding personalities and, subsequently, based my new short film around it.

siblings 2010-2020 france
siblings early days 1997-2010 israel
parents early days 1969-1997 israel
grandparents early days ????-1969 israel & morroco
grand grandparents ????-???? poland & morroco
grand grand grandparents ????-???? no idea
grand grand grand grandparents ????-???? no idea

gather information: photos, film, names,
places, hobbies, stories,

yifat gat, my mom
rani kasher, homeschooling leader, israel
clara bellar, film director 'être et devenir', france
ruud visschedijk, director kcr, netherlands
danai fuengshunut, education station, wdka, netherlands
kiddos on zoom
more education related people!

Quotes about education, learning, children

“Over the years, I have noticed that the child who learns quickly is adventurous. She’s ready to run risks. She approaches life with arms outspread. She wants to take it all in. She still has the desire of the very young child to make sense out of things. She’s not concerned with concealing her ignorance or protecting herself. She’s ready to expose herself to disappointment and defeat. She has a certain confidence. She expects to make sense out of things sooner or later. She has a kind of trust.”

- John Holt, educator and coiner of the term ‘unschooling’


“It is not the teacher’s proper task to be constantly testing and checking the understanding of the learner. That’s the learner’s task, and only the learner can do it. The teacher’s job is to answer questions when learners ask them, or to try to help learners understand better when they ask for that help.”

- John Holt, How Children Fail


“Of course, a child may not know what he may need to know in ten years (who does?), but he knows, and much better than anyone else, what he wants and needs to know right now, what his mind is ready and hungry for. If we help him, or just allow him, to learn that, he will remember it, use it, build on it. If we try to make him learn something else, that we think is more important, the chances are that he won’t learn it, or will learn very little of it, that he will soon forget most of what he learned, and what is worst of all, will before long lose most of his appetite for learning anything. Which is the opposite of what we need to do. Rather, we need to create constant appetite for learning through letting children learn whatever they are interested in at that moment.

What makes people smart, curious, alert, observant, competent, confident, resourceful, persistent – in the broadest and best sense, intelligent - is not having access to more and more learning places, resources, and specialists, but being able in their lives to do a wide variety of interesting things that matter, things that challenge their ingenuity, skill, and judgment, and that make an obvious difference in their lives and the lives of people around them.”

- John Holt


“Large scale education was not developed to motivate kids or to create scholars, but to churn out adults who worked well within the system.”

- Seth Godin, Stop Stealing Dreams


“Learning is not done to you. Learning is something you choose to do.”

- Seth Godin, Stop Stealing Dreams


“Universal education through schooling is not feasible. It would be no more feasible if it were attempted by means of alternative institutions built on the style of present schools. Neither new attitudes of teachers toward their pupils nor the proliferation of educational hardware or software (in classroom or bedroom), nor finally the attempt to expand the pedagogue’s responsibility until it engulfs his pupils’ lifetimes will deliver universal education.

The current search for new educational funnels must be reversed into the search for their institutional inverse: educational webs which heighten the opportunity for each one to transform each moment of his living into one of learning, sharing, and caring.”

- Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society


“Learning that is initiated and generated by a learner is uniquely different than learning that is expected and directed from the outside. I have consistently observed over many years that learning that is self-initiated is not entangled with learning difficulties or learning disorders. I have observed that if children are not neurologically or developmentally ready to read or engage in some specific learning task, then they demonstrate neurological deficiencies. It has been astounding to watch many learners achieve results on their own when experts could not help them.”

- Brent Cameron, Self Design


“People are centrally concerned with motivation — how to move themselves or others to act. Everywhere, parents, teachers, coaches, and managers struggle with how to motivate those that they mentor, and individuals struggle to find energy, mobilize effort and persist at the tasks of life and work. People are often moved by external factors such as reward systems, grades, evaluations, or the opinions they fear others might have of them. Yet, just as frequently, people are motivated from within, by interests, curiosity, care or abiding values. These intrinsic motivations are not necessarily externally rewarded or supported, but nonetheless they can sustain passions, creativity, and sustained efforts. Potential lies in the interplay between the two.”

- Self Determination Theory


“Human resources are like the earth’s natural resources. They are highly diverse and often buried deep beneath the surface. They need to be discovered, refined and applied. Education often promotes a narrow view of ability, as do many corporate organizations. As a result, many people are unaware of the variety of their talents and depth of their potential.”

- Ken Robinson

Why do people take or keep their children out of school? Mostly for three reasons: they think that raising their children is their business not the government’s; they enjoy being with their children and watching and helping them learn, and don’t want to give that up to others; they want to keep them from being hurt, mentally, physically, and spiritually.”

- John Holt

to do during minor

Collaboration across and beyond arts & sciences
> Study topics of childhood, family & education through photographic, film
and textual documentation
> Research and get in touch with others that research the topic through arts
& sciences

Equality of knowledge
> Collect information from educators, children, artists

Engaging with complex societal issues
> Reimagining tomorrow’s education: what is needed in an upbringing
for an unknown future?

Making public(s)
> Sharing information about alternatives to the traditional educational system
to those who might not know about them
> Getting in touch with people in positions of power who are capable of making change
> Creating deeper connections within my family and with children

"Practices of re-imagining tomorrow invite us to look towards the future,
but at the same time critically evaluate past and present."
> Past: family archive
> Present: get in touch with children
> Future: interview educators and people from the field

how can we best prepare the current & coming generations for a rapidly changing future?

analog photos of siblings i shot during lockdown 2020 in france that still needs to be developed

mini dv camcorder tapes i shot of siblings between 2005-2008 in israel that still need to be digitalized

what can i learn from my own childhood & family history about how the world functions?

from the nuclear family structure & industrialization of education towards what?

- How did you experience childhood? What do you think played the biggest part in shaping who you are nowadays?
- The notion of open & closed systems; what does that mean to you? How do you see the connection to educational structures? 
- What is, in your opinion, the place and meaning of play within a child's learning process? And of an adult? 
- How do you the developments of the traditional education system born out of industrialisation? Where is it heading now? 
- Differentiation V.S. standardization: which, for whom, where, when? 
- Who would you say carry the responsibility of a child's education? To what extent does the experience shifts when a different figure takes on the responsibility? 
- To what extent would you trust a child with their own learning process? 
- What are your thoughts on lifelong learning? How can children's education prepare for lifelong learning?
- Autodidactism: does it exist? What are the pros and cons of having self-taught learners and self-initiated activities? 
- How does today's education systems prepare children and young adults for a future of unique individuals in interconnectedness? 
- What are your thoughts on radical freedom within upbringing? To what extent shall children be free? 

how to deconstruct the norm towards ideals of freedom?

in the current situation of lockdowns, where is education going? what is possible online/through distance?