Heuristic Outcomes { Res Ipsa Loquitur }

Aim

Help fund the making of the initial stage of Heuristic Outcomes; A multimedia art project about the lives of adults who were home-educated

Can you help fund my project into the outcomes and successes of elective home-education in the U.K?

What is success? and Who exactly gets to determine who has been successful?

 (please ignore where it starts with a suggestion of £40 in the box for pledges. I know many people can't afford that. If only a fraction of the people who home ed's and are on the various facebook pages donated only a £1 we would fund this project easily! I don't need huge pledges at all, lots of small ones means it is a community effort :) )

During the education select committee's enquiry into Elective Home-Education in 2021 and the ensuing media coverage, it was repeatedly suggested that the government needed a register and oversight of electively home-educated children because "we don't know the outcomes" "we don't know their life chances or what they go on to do" ..... I found this infuriating; If you don't know something, how on earth can it be that the initial response it to force people into a research project against their will? Would instead better practice be to say "hey can I ask you about something, would you like to tell me your story?"

I decided that if the argument is “there is no research” (something that I would argue anyway, but I digress) then I'll do the research and whats more, 'I' will ASK the participants if they want to take part, 'I' will get informed consent, 'I' will be respectful and ..... 'I' will listen, instead of ask a question and then answer it, before you have time to take a breath.

I may have personal opinions about this topic, but this project is coming from a place of neutrality. I am approaching this as an artist and researcher. 

I have put open invites out explaining the project, I am accepting everyone who wants to take part, no matter their age, how long they were home educated for, why they were home educated, what that looked like, or what they have gone on to do. 

It is important to me that this project is a true and varied representation of the home educating community, a collaboration between each participant and myself and in turn the whole community.

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Heuristic Outcomes is a multimedia art project, that through audio interviews, photography and film, with previously home educated individuals, asks the question "what does success look like? " and "who gets to determine who is successful?"

Following over 45 participants across all corners of the UK aged between 16 and 45 years, I am aiming to shine a light on what home educated individuals go on to do later in their lives.

To help me do this I am trying to raise money to help fund the initial stage of the project.

The first stage of just physical costs of fuel and expenses to meet all these people is going to cost me just under £10,000 (45 participants, I am in Cornwall, and participants are in Wales, Scotland, London, Norfolk/Sulfolk areas and loads in the middle of the country!
Basically it’s a lot of travelling (and some overnights) however I'm not expecting to raise anywhere near that much from this crowdfunder obviously, but any contribution at all towards the initial meetings and the extortionate cost of fuel at the moment is going to help me, as I am just not in a position to be able to fund it myself sadly.

I am trying to combine photoshoots where possible (in the same geographical area, or if I go past one on the way to another for example) to keep costs down s much as possible, as well as the environmental impact. 

I'm hoping that once I have created the first stage of the project and have evidence that the community both wants and supports this project (through many people being involved and also this crowdfunder), that I will be able to secure either arts Council funding or some more smaller local arts fund grants that are available. 

If I'm not able to secure those funding streams, the project will still go ahead, because I will pay for it myself, I believe in it that much, it will just take a lot longer for me to do if I have to do it that way.

Basically if I were rich, I would do this myself without asking for help, but I am not, so I asking for the help of anyone with an interest in home education, alternative education, education in its entirety, or varying pedagogical methods, to help realise this vision and make this contribution to my effort to educate the media, educational institutions, the government and the general public about elective home education and its outcomes in the U.K. 

For information on what I want to do with the images after I have finished (Open Eye gallery, Liverpool, The houses of Parliament and a photo book) please watch the you tube video included on this page (which disclaimer - is in no way indicative of my skill as a photographer or videographer, it's crazy low res and my two youngest children helped me do it with my iphone whilst waiting to pick my son up from sixth form as I'd been putting it off for ages :))

Any questions (or if you’d like to take part in the project!) feel free to email me at [email protected] 

You can also follow the project development on IG @Bekkie_Graham 

or all my previous projects (educational philosophies, covid deregistrations, and my own home ed family) are on my website - 

www.heuristicstudy.com

Thanks for reading, thanks for donating and if you can’t or don’t want to donate, please do follow the project on my IG as that’s a fabulous free way to help the project, as the more people that like and share it, the more I can show how needed it is and the more likely I am to get exhibitions and funding of the work in the future!

Bekkie

This project successfully funded on 21st April 2022