The union representing Ontario’s public elementary teachers is pushing to have cellphones turned off in the classroom and wireless technology (WiFi) use monitored for potential health-related concerns.
The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) passed several motions at its annual general meeting this past summer, one being that personal electronic devices, like student cellphones, should be turned off and stored during school hours, unless a teacher gives permission for their use.
That vote was part of a series of motions, which also requested that radiation from cellphones and WiFi be recognized as a possible workplace hazard for the organization’s 76,000-plus teachers, more than 2,600 of them with the Halton public school board.
A second ETFO vote at its AGM resolved that school boards stop putting WiFi transmitters in out-of-sight locations, such as in ceilings, and also label them as part of a hazard control program.
WiFi in general has been looked at and the jury is still out on its (potentially) harmful effects. Right now WiFi is the way to go. Are we walking a crooked path? - Richard Brock, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA), Halton chapter
Sandra Walsh, a teacher representing Peel District (Mississauga and Brampton) at the AGM, told the Post in September that most school boards already have a bring your own device (BYOD) policy for teachers, staff and students in relation to electronic items like cellphones, laptops, iPads and smartphones.
“If they (board) already have a (acceptable use) policy in place, they (students probably) can only use them under direction of a teacher’s instruction,” said Walsh.
The ETFO votes are non-binding. “The ETFO can’t demand anything,” she said.
The organization formulates policy for its union members but it is up to school boards to decide whether to accept any of its recommendations, she added.
Walsh said the ETFO’s provincial body has concerns about how cellphones and other electronic devices might be used by students in schools and also the possible physical effects on everyone in the school environment with regards to the use of wireless technology.
“It (goes) to the distractability issue. Why should they have them in their pocket?” she wondered about students and cellphones or other handheld electronics.
“It’s a precautionary thing, too, like microwaves at home. When not in use you turn it off,” she said. “Children are always more vulnerable to environmental (pressures).
“Some experts say this could be the next public health experiment,” noted Walsh.
In a press release from May 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO), classified radio-frequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans, based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer, associated with wireless phone use.
Walsh says the ETFO continues to monitor health-related issues around wireless technology.
The Post was unable to reach the Halton chapter of ETFO for comment.
However, the head of the elementary school teachers’ union at the Halton Catholic school board has expressed concerns similar to those of ETFO Ontario.
Richard Brock, who represents 1,700 elementary teachers with the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association’s (OECTA) Halton chapter told the Post, “The (Catholic) board clearly has its own policy on electronic devices,” and instructs teachers on what is considered appropriate use in classrooms.
He doesn’t believe there is any need in a class though for one particular device.
“There is no practical use for a cellphone in a classroom,” Brock said. “
He has concerns with several potential uses of cellphones in class such as recording teachers or taking photos of them.
“The one per cent (of students) can do a lot of damage,” to a teacher’s reputation, Brock said, noting electronic material can be taken out of context and posted on social media sites, with the potential to be seen by many people.
“As a teacher you are under constant scrutiny, in school and also in their private life.
“Right now they (many students) are working on iPads (so) the teacher is in control” of the classroom, for now, he added.
The health-related impact of wireless technology is not as clear-cut, said Brock.
“WiFi in general has been looked at and the jury is still out on its (potentially) harmful effects. Right now WiFi is the way to go. Are we walking a crooked path?” he wondered.
The chief information officer at the Halton public school board says they support the provincial ETFO motions related to limiting cellphone use in class and concerns about WiFi.
“Students can certainly use their technology outside of the classroom,” such as during nutritional breaks, lunch and recess, said Bruce Smith.
“During the instructional day it would be up to the school to decide how they are to be used. It is a school-by-school decision, just as it is a class-by-class (teacher) decision,” he added.
“In secondary, most schools welcome technology into the classroom, but it’s still a teacher’s decision…. In Grade 8 you would find more technology in the classroom than in Grade 2.”
One area of electronic communication that is open to potential misuse in the classroom is messaging between students, says Smith.
“Texting can be abused. It replaces the (paper) note you used to hand to your friend, but the (good) use list is far longer than the abuse list,” he said in general about electronic devices in schools.
When personal devices get smaller, they are harder to detect when in use.
“They all have cameras and telephones and texting capability…. (Students) have to have understand, if you are going to take a teacher’s picture you have to ask for their permission,” said Smith.
Despite some concerns about how electronic devices can be used, his board embraces technology, as evidenced by its new Bring I.T. program, he said.
“The board is funding the roll-out of Bring I.T. by providing $2 million per year during each of the next five years. It will provide teacher training, mounted data projectors, a document camera and a teacher device in 60 per cent of our classrooms over the next five years.”
Visit http://bit.ly/1aUm6vf to view the Halton public school board’s Acceptable Use Procedure for Information and Communication Technology.
Details of the Halton public board’s Bring I.T. (Information Technology) program can be viewed athttp://bit.ly/1562Ffi.
The Halton Catholic board passed first reading of its Use of and Support for School Technology and Social Media policy in June 2013. It can be found at http://bit.ly/18AZkn2.
