Rachel Burke is very interested in learning more about international perspectives.

Dr. Burke, who has a PhD in social anthropology, did post-doctoral work in Japan and ended up living there for many years, including starting a family there.

She did her thesis on implicit cultural assumptions in early childhood education in New Zealand and Japan.

“When my oldest son started early childhood, I sort of realized there were a whole lot of assumptions around how things should be done that everyone assumed were natural, but nobody could ever explain to you. Because my background is in social anthropology and culture, I was thinking it would be really interesting to explore these implicit assumptions around how things are done,” she said.

Burke, now a senior lecturer in early childhood education at the Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology in Tauranga, New Zealand, will draw upon her experiences and background for her workshop “Building Relationships, Fostering Belonging: Drawing on Māori Health Models to Support International Students.”

The workshop will explore the challenges international students face due to new levels of cultural complexity in increasingly diverse post-secondary institutions.

Burke is also interested in indigeneity.

“In New Zealand, everything we do in the education space is framed by the Treaty of Waitangi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which is a partnership between Maori, indigenous people, and the Crown,” she said. “It underpins all the interactions we have in the teaching and learning space. What I’ve found is that there’s a lot of what we do in New Zealand that might be new for you here in Canada, or maybe you haven’t actually gone down that road yet.”

Burke finds herself in Windsor thanks partly by word of mouth. She said she was speaking to former visiting fellow and colleague Cath Fraser. She mentioned to Fraser that she wanted to learn more about international perspectives, and Fraser told her about the Centre for Teaching and Learning’s visiting fellow program and what a great experience it was for her, which sold Burke on the idea of coming here.

Burke said she hopes to make some connections in the early childhood space.

“I’m currently working on a collaborative research project with several colleagues from around New Zealand. We’re writing a book on children's collaborative inquiry.” She said she also hopes to meet some anthropologists as well.

She will be in Windsor until Oct. 10. Her full biography is available to read on the CTL’s website.

Since 2007, the CTL has hosted more than 40 visiting fellows from the USA, Canada, Jamaica, Australia, England, Belgium, New Zealand, South Africa, Nigeria, and China.