Teachers ready for broadband challenge

TOM PULLAR-STRECKER

School teachers are generally well qualified to take advantage of ultrafast broadband to improve the delivery of education, according to a report prepared for the Commerce Commission.

But it said while teachers had been skilled up over the past 10 years and most were willing to ”leave their comfort zones”, the same could not be said for teacher training institutions which were ”behind the times”.

The report is one of a series of three looking into barriers to the take-up of ultrafast broadband, and focused solely on health and education. It was written for the commission by former Telecommunications Users Association chief executive Ernie Newman.

The internet had been ”game changing” for students, allowing them to learn when and where they wanted, he said.

”All this has changed the nature of students. They have become much more individual, and concerned with the values of individualism, than their predecessors.”

Yet schools were still delivering a ”production-line programme” that condemned slow learners to fail more comprehensively and made fast learners slow down ”to ensure they succeed less”.

Newman said it was foreseeable most students would have a digital device such as an iPad at school in the near future.

”One area that arose repeatedly as a serious concern … was the perception that our colleges of education are many years behind the times in teaching the teachers” and were not taking an ”intellectual lead in the sector”, he said.

”New Zealand is neither a world leader nor a laggard in the introduction of ICT to schools. However, our actions over the next five years will determine whether we use ultrafast broadband to improve our relative position in education, and thus our economic position, or allow other countries to overtake.”

Ultrafast broadband could result in more people having their health monitored in the home and in video consultations with doctors especially from 2014 when patients and clinicians should have access to electronic health records, according to the report.

But Newman said the health sector globally was ”one of the few sectors that has yet to maximise the transformation the internet can deliver”.

Telehealth pilots that had taken place to date were often ”ribbon-cutting” opportunities for politicians and ways hadn’t been found them to grow them to the scale required to demonstrate ”real economic benefits”.

– © Fairfax NZ News

From: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/6304794/Teachers-ready-for-broadband-challenge

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https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

Emails fly over NCEA exam mistakes

ROSS GIBLIN/FAIRFAX NZ 

DIDN’T ADD UP: Tina Chen-Xu, 17, says she was confused by some of the questions in the year 12 maths exam.

Teachers say the NCEA maths exams that thousands of students have just completed were riddled with mistakes and contradictions.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life before,” said Rory Barrett, a maths teacher at Auckland’s Macleans College and former head of maths at one of the country’s top schools, Auckland Grammar.

He said he had trawled through each maths exam across NCEA levels 1, 2 and 3 and said there were contradictions and mistakes in at least five papers. He has made an official complaint with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), which adds to the pile it has received in the past two weeks.

French teachers complained last week about a level 1 exam that had bizarre references and was at least two years above the year 11 standard.

Barrett said he had exchanged hundreds of emails with other maths teachers in the past three days and the Auckland Mathematical Association held a meeting last night to discuss the issue.

Read more here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/6065246/Emails-fly-over-NCEA-exam-mistakes

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Environmental Health Trust Reveals Risky Patterns of Cell Phone Use by Middle Schoolers

Important New Zealand paper and UK Charity MobileWise Scientific Review:  Cell Phone Use Today Places Children At Risk Cited Among Several Reports

BERKELEY, CA – November 9, 2011 — Key figures in the arena of cell phone safety spoke today at a California City Council education forum in Berkeley.  The impact of cell phones on children was a major theme of the day’s speeches.  Devra Davis, PhD, MPH, founder of Environmental Health Trust (EHT), cited several studies, including a recent report that EHT coauthored, on radiofrequency exposure among children. She also highlighted an important new New Zealand study led by Mary Redmayne finding that in-pocket use of cell phones by middle schoolers exposes their reproductive organs’ to prolonged exposure to cell phone radiation.  Additionally, she unveiled an important new UK report that calls for interventions to protect children from the long-term health risks of cell phone radiation.

Cell Phones and Children’ Heads

According to the EHT report, children absorb twice as much microwave radiation from cell phones as adults, and radiation from cell phones carried in shirts or pants pockets is four to seven times higher than the guidelines set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which determines exposure guidelines in the United States.

The reason for the discrepancy, EHT says, is that the process to determine radiation exposure from cell phones involves the use of a mannequin model that approximates a 6-foot 2-inch tall, 220-pound man.  Because this model head represents only about three percent of the population, the test will not accurately predict the radiation exposure of the other 97 percent, including children, nor does it estimate exposures from pocket use.

“The standard for cell phones has been developed based on old science, old models and old assumptions about how we use cell phones, and that’s why they need to change and protect our children and grandchildren,” said Dr. Davis.

Cell Phones and Sperm Damage

Dr. Davis also cited a New Zealand study led by researcher Mary Redmayne of the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Science at Victoria University in Wellington.   Redmayne found that a majority of New Zealand adolescents carry a cell phone switched on in their pants pocket for more than six hours a day.  Even where schools ban phones, more than two in five middle schoolers regularly sent texts from within a side pocket; a fifth carried one for more than 10 hours a day, and used it in-pocket.  Research suggests this may impair future fertility and/or reproductive integrity.

According to the study, 43% of student participants admitted to breaking rules about cell phone use.  A high-exposure group of risk-takers was identified for whom prohibited in-school use was positively associated with high texting rates, carrying the phone switched-on for more than 10 hours/day, and using them in-pocket.

The Redmayne team concluded that fertility research in humans finds important time and dose-dependent deleterious effects from cell phone exposure on sperm.  Genotoxic effects have been demonstrated from “non-thermal” exposures, but not consistently.  According to the study, there is sufficient evidence and expert opinion to warrant an enforced school policy removing cell phones from students during the day and promoting precautionary policies.

In response to the study’s findings, fertility expert, Ken McNatty, PhD, DSc, FRSNZ, a Professor of Cell Biology and Biotechnology at Victoria University of Wellington, NZ said “Doctors need to start asking patients with fertility problems about their cell phone use. It’s long been known that infertility in males or females can be caused by DNA damage to sperm or eggs, through exposure to X-irradiation or industrial chemicals.  Now there is evidence to suggest that cell phone microwaves also cause DNA damage to sperm in a time- and dose-dependent manner.”

New Report Calls for More Safety

Dr. Davis also spoke about a new report published today by UK charity MobileWise, warning that children’s health is being jeopardized by the failure of government and phone companies to respond to the growing body of evidence linking cell phone use with health hazards.  Dr. Davis and other public health experts working with MobileWise are calling on government and industry to respond to the new evidence, and to provide warnings and advice on ways to reduce the risk of health damage when using cell phones, especially for children.

The new report, “Mobile Phone Health Risks: The Case for Action to Protect Children,” brings together for the first time more than 200 peer-reviewed studies from a range of research institutions linking cell phones to serious health problems.  These include brain tumors and potential damage to fertility, genes, the blood-brain barrier and melatonin production, as well as other biological effects thought to have a role in the development of cancer.  Endorsed by a number of eminent doctors and scientists, the report highlights the growing and substantial body of evidence that has been obscured in the debate over these risks.

“It is better to be cautious now than it is to be sorry later,” said Dr. Davis.  “We have learned this because of previous experience involving substances and products that were used indiscriminately for a long time until the health effects became undeniable.  We do not want to see a future generation have to deal with fertility issues that can result from damage to sperm as well as female reproductive health.   We want our children and grandchildren to have the right to produce healthy offspring when and if they chose to do so.”

The studies cited are all available on www.saferphonezone.com

Media:

Janet Vasquez

media@ehtrust.org

MEDIA RELEASE

20 July 2011

Family First NZ says that lawyers have sent a clear warning to parents regarding the anti-smacking law – that parenting is now a risky business and parents should always seek legal advice when facing complaints about smacking, no matter how reasonable or appropriate they believe their actions to be.

“One of the sad aspects of the anti-smacking law is that it has done nothing to stop our horrendous rates of child abuse, but it has put good parents at the risk of criminalization for what is appropriate and non-abusive parenting, This has been backed up by the concerns expressed by, and experiences of, legal professionals,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. “Anecdotal evidence received by Family First always backs up these concerns.”

“Prominent Wellington Barrister Greg King says that a smack, no matter how light, could certainly amount in law to an assault, whether or not it is justified or not depends on all of the relevant circumstances, but I repeat a parent who smacks a child risks being charged. This is in direct conflict to the assurances of the Prime Minister to kiwi parents.”

“Napier Barrister Phillip Ross warns that the prosecutor’s discretion not to charge does not give the Court a similar discretion.

Auckland lawyer John Cagney says that not only is s59 expressed in such a way that prediction of outcome from particular action is impossible but the outcome is often dependent on the sympathies and prejudices of many of the officials involved in the prosecution and court process.”

“Wellington lawyer Michael Bott reiterates what all the lawyers have recommended – that no matter whether the parent thinks the actions were justified and reasonable, they should get legal advice before they open their mouth to police or CYF, and says we’ve got good parents who are being caught up. And that’s extremely sad. But it’s what we predicted,” says Mr McCoskrie.

“New Plymouth lawyer Barry Henderson says this regrettable situation has lead to incredible confusion with decent parents. And Auckland Barrister Evgeny Orlov warns that the anti-smacking legislation is the tip of an iceberg. The law allows the State to take away your children even if you show unacceptable levels of anger let alone smacking them.”

“It is disappointing that parenting in NZ has become a legal minefield because the politicians have failed to tackle the real causes of child abuse and have instead criminalized good and non-abusive parenting practice,” says Mr McCoskrie.

The full advice for parents is on the recently released www.protectgoodparents.org.nz website under “legal advice for parents’.

ENDS

For More Information and Media Interviews, contact Family First:

Bob McCoskrie – National Director

Mob. 027 55 555 42

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