When her peers and colleagues were making retirement plans, Julianne Burgess (BEd ’91, MEd ’14) felt like she still had new career challenges and opportunities to explore.

In her 50s, Burgess enrolled in Brock’s Master of Education program and was inspired to pursue a doctoral degree. On Friday, she graduated from Brock’s PhD in Educational Studies at the age of 64.

Burgess’ PhD research builds on almost 25 years as an English language teacher working with adult newcomers to Canada. She entered the program hoping to become a better advocate for more compassionate English language testing approaches for newcomer students, who often face significant challenges outside the classroom.

After seeing success using the arts in her own practice, Burgess wanted to use an arts-based research method to explore newcomers’ experiences of belonging.

“There are various theorists who’ve called the arts another language and additional language,” she said. “That makes a lot of sense to me. For people who may struggle to communicate with words, the arts are a fabulous vehicle for communication.”

Her original plans for in-person arts-based research were disrupted when COVID-19 lockdowns were implemented just days after she received approval to proceed with her project. She pivoted to an online approach with the support of her supervisor.

Burgess recruited a group of participants who were willing to be part of her virtual research and meet online. Each participant created artwork, such as photography, responding to conversations about belonging and shared their work with Burgess to be discussed at subsequent meetings.

Burgess and the group of participants were able to create what she calls a ‘third space of belonging’ that provided empathy and care in response to other members’ artwork and stories.

“It was really lovely that feeling emerged in an online space,” said Burgess, who didn’t expect to see such a supportive space emerge without in-person contact with participants.

Language barriers were the biggest challenge identified by participants when it comes to feeling a sense of belonging as a newcomer.

While it wasn’t the primary focus of her work, Burgess believes the use of a ‘translanguaging approach’ contributed to the sense of belonging felt by participants. In the case of her research, this meant inviting participants to use their home or other languages in conversations or their artwork.

Translanguaging is a person’s ability to move fluidly between the languages in their language repertoire and make use of all their linguistic or communication tools. Burgess describes it as an asset-based pedagogy or theory because of its focus on what learners already know.

Burgess hopes her PhD research will have practical applications for creating inclusive spaces where newcomers can feel a sense of belonging. She plans to continue exploring the themes that emerged during her research and is exploring post-doctoral opportunities around the world.

“I’m interested in different ways of using the arts in research. Combining the arts and translanguaging provides some really interesting dynamic for self-expression and for storytelling,” she said.

Burgess never expected to find herself working in academic research.

“I came from a working-class background,” she said. “I didn’t have anyone around me who was a university graduate, so the idea of pursuing graduate studies was not on my radar.” Burgess’ father finished high school, but her mother left school early to help raise her siblings.

Before becoming an English language teacher, Burgess spent a decade working in radio broadcasting. A chance encounter at a parenting group, and a desire to make more of an impact on people’s lives, set her on the path to her career in adult education.

Her decision to pursue her own education has changed the way she thinks about what’s possible for her own life.

“I guess my mindset has changed from this feeling of ‘I wish I had’ to ‘I know I can’ and ‘why don’t I?’ instead of ‘why didn’t I?’” said Burgess.