title: Sell, sell, sell or learn, learn, learn? The EdTech market in New Zealand’s education system – privatisation by stealth?

authors: Wright, Noeline

abstract: An article in The Atlantic ‘Quantifying the Ed-Tech Market’ (2015), which draws on a review by the Education Technology Industry Network, reports that the U.S. Ed-tech market totalled $8.38 billion in the 2012–2013 academic year, which is up from $7.9 billion the year before, and up 11.7 per cent from 2009. K-12 online course revenue including any digital curriculum increased some 320% and the testing and assessment market, the largest single category, generated $2.5 billion. The New Zealand business organisation EDTechNZ, indicates on its website that educational technology is the fastest growing sector of a global smart education market worth US$100 billion, forecast to grow to US$394 by 2019. The same source indicates that Cloud-based educational technology is accelerating at 20% growth per annum and is forecast to reach US$12 billion by 2019. These returns are unequalled by most other economic sectors. Our concern in this article is that the market imperative based on selling has become a driving logic for digital technologies in schools while learning gets lost in the rush for companies to profit from schools, creating de facto privatisation by stealth. Aspects of the New Zealand educational context are used to illustrate our thinking, especially since most educational provision is still state owned and taxpayer funded.

text: Sell, sell, sell or learn, learn, learn? The EdTech market in New Zealand’s education system – privatisation by stealth? An article in The Atlantic ‘Quantifying the Ed-Tech Market’ (2015), which draws on a review by the Education Technology Industry Network, reports that the U.S. Ed-tech market totalled $8.38 billion in the 2012–2013 academic year, which is up from $7.9 billion the year before, and up 11.7 per cent from 2009. K-12 online course revenue including any digital curriculum increased some 320% and the testing and assessment market, the largest single category, generated $2.5 billion. The New Zealand business organisation EDTechNZ, indicates on its website that educational technology is the fastest growing sector of a global smart education market worth US$100 billion, forecast to grow to US$394 by 2019. The same source indicates that Cloud-based educational technology is accelerating at 20% growth per annum and is forecast to reach US$12 billion by 2019. These returns are unequalled by most other economic sectors. Our concern in this article is that the market imperative based on selling has become a driving logic for digital technologies in schools while learning gets lost in the rush for companies to profit from schools, creating de facto privatisation by stealth. Aspects of the New Zealand educational context are used to illustrate our thinking, especially since most educational provision is still state owned and taxpayer funded.

year: 2017

title: Studies of anodising sludge and its uses

authors: Patel, Purvesh Vinodbhai

subjects: Anodising alum waste

abstract: Anodising is an important finishing technique used to produce controlled oxide coating on aluminium extrusions which impart aesthetic finish, longer life and resistance to corrosion and abrasion. The anodising process however leads to generation of significant amounts of acid and alkaline waste containing mainly aluminium. Normally these wastes are neutralised producing aluminium hydroxide sludge the disposal of which is problematic. Finex is New Zealand's most recently developed anodising plant established in Hamilton in 2004. During the first period of operation the company was faced with a costly sludge disposal problem. The present project was devised to study their production plant and wastewater treatment plant. A brief study of the sludge showed that even under optimum conditions and with use of polyelectrolyte, gravity settling produced excessive volumes of sludge. The decision was made to install a plate and frame filter press. With the reduction of its bulk by dewatering, the problem of sludge disposal was essentially solved. However the 12 tonnes per week of dewatered sludge production still posed the challenge of devising a way of using the material beneficially. The characteristics of the sludge were determined and routes to commodity products were investigated.
Commodity alum was produced in good yield at 4 C by treatment of the sludge with sulphuric acid followed by crystallisation with anhydrous potassium sulphate. The product was very similar to the commercial product. Under basic conditions, sodium aluminate was produced by adding stoichiometric amount of OH-. Under acid conditions at the H+/Al(OH)3 stoichiometric ratio of 3, 95% of the aluminium was recovered as aluminium salt solution. When acid addition was less than the stoichiometric ratio of 3, the polyelectrolyte containing sludge showed little tendency to re-suspend. A variety of mechanical and thermal methods was used in an attempt to disaggregate and re-suspend the sludge. These included ultrasonic treatment at 80 C at frequency 14 kHz for 6 hours, autoclaving the sludge in electrical furnace at 150 C for 6 hours, homogenisation at 3000 rpm for 30 minutes at 20 C and mechanical grinding using mortar and pestle at 20 C. The ultrasonic treatment was effective in re-suspending 30% of the sludge. The other treatments were largely ineffective. On comparing the heavy metal concentration present in the original anodising sludge with the heavy metal concentration in the recovered commodity products, it was found that heavy metal content reduction was achieved with the alum crystallisation process. On producing aluminate, Cd, Mg and Ni were reduced through the removal of insoluble hydroxides. Minimal reduction of heavy metal content was achieved in the acidic aluminium chloride solution. The acidic and alkaline products prepared from anodising sludge were tested for their usefulness as coagulation agents. Critical coagulation concentrations for kaolin suspensions for all products were determined to be 5 mg/L. For all systems except the ultrasonic re-suspended sludge, clear solutions of low turbidity resulted after 1 hour standing. An analysis of the cost recovery of various commodity products from waste sludge indicated that recovery of acid aluminium chloride solution was most cost effective while the recovery of alum produces the purest product. Assuming that the acid aluminium chloride solution could be substituted for and sold at the same per kg of aluminium price as polyaluminium chloride, a 52% margin over consumables cost allows the possibility of a modest profit. The main benefit to Finex from proceeding with a sludge recovery program however is likely to be enhancement of the companies green credentials.

text: Studies of anodising sludge and its uses Anodising is an important finishing technique used to produce controlled oxide coating on aluminium extrusions which impart aesthetic finish, longer life and resistance to corrosion and abrasion. The anodising process however leads to generation of significant amounts of acid and alkaline waste containing mainly aluminium. Normally these wastes are neutralised producing aluminium hydroxide sludge the disposal of which is problematic. Finex is New Zealand's most recently developed anodising plant established in Hamilton in 2004. During the first period of operation the company was faced with a costly sludge disposal problem. The present project was devised to study their production plant and wastewater treatment plant. A brief study of the sludge showed that even under optimum conditions and with use of polyelectrolyte, gravity settling produced excessive volumes of sludge. The decision was made to install a plate and frame filter press. With the reduction of its bulk by dewatering, the problem of sludge disposal was essentially solved. However the 12 tonnes per week of dewatered sludge production still posed the challenge of devising a way of using the material beneficially. The characteristics of the sludge were determined and routes to commodity products were investigated.
Commodity alum was produced in good yield at 4 C by treatment of the sludge with sulphuric acid followed by crystallisation with anhydrous potassium sulphate. The product was very similar to the commercial product. Under basic conditions, sodium aluminate was produced by adding stoichiometric amount of OH-. Under acid conditions at the H+/Al(OH)3 stoichiometric ratio of 3, 95% of the aluminium was recovered as aluminium salt solution. When acid addition was less than the stoichiometric ratio of 3, the polyelectrolyte containing sludge showed little tendency to re-suspend. A variety of mechanical and thermal methods was used in an attempt to disaggregate and re-suspend the sludge. These included ultrasonic treatment at 80 C at frequency 14 kHz for 6 hours, autoclaving the sludge in electrical furnace at 150 C for 6 hours, homogenisation at 3000 rpm for 30 minutes at 20 C and mechanical grinding using mortar and pestle at 20 C. The ultrasonic treatment was effective in re-suspending 30% of the sludge. The other treatments were largely ineffective. On comparing the heavy metal concentration present in the original anodising sludge with the heavy metal concentration in the recovered commodity products, it was found that heavy metal content reduction was achieved with the alum crystallisation process. On producing aluminate, Cd, Mg and Ni were reduced through the removal of insoluble hydroxides. Minimal reduction of heavy metal content was achieved in the acidic aluminium chloride solution. The acidic and alkaline products prepared from anodising sludge were tested for their usefulness as coagulation agents. Critical coagulation concentrations for kaolin suspensions for all products were determined to be 5 mg/L. For all systems except the ultrasonic re-suspended sludge, clear solutions of low turbidity resulted after 1 hour standing. An analysis of the cost recovery of various commodity products from waste sludge indicated that recovery of acid aluminium chloride solution was most cost effective while the recovery of alum produces the purest product. Assuming that the acid aluminium chloride solution could be substituted for and sold at the same per kg of aluminium price as polyaluminium chloride, a 52% margin over consumables cost allows the possibility of a modest profit. The main benefit to Finex from proceeding with a sludge recovery program however is likely to be enhancement of the companies green credentials.

year: 2008

title: Ma hea – which way? Mo te aha – what for?

authors: Te Awekotuku, Ngahuia

subjects: prejudice

abstract: Keynote address to the annual conference of the
NZ Psychological Society, 28 August 2004
E rau rangatira ma, tena ra koutou….
This presentation will be in four sections.
The first section will introduce two major issues, mana motuhake, and
manatangata, then we will consider some proposed legislation, the Seabed
& Foreshore Bill and the Civil Union Bill.
We will then consider strategic Maori response to political pressure over the
last three decades, and then note two recent and dramatic examples. They
are the Hikoi Takutai Moana, April 2004, and the Enough is Enough Rally,
August 2004
In the final section, we will consider the implications for psychologies and
psychologists working today in Aotearoa.

text: Ma hea – which way? Mo te aha – what for? Keynote address to the annual conference of the
NZ Psychological Society, 28 August 2004
E rau rangatira ma, tena ra koutou….
This presentation will be in four sections.
The first section will introduce two major issues, mana motuhake, and
manatangata, then we will consider some proposed legislation, the Seabed
& Foreshore Bill and the Civil Union Bill.
We will then consider strategic Maori response to political pressure over the
last three decades, and then note two recent and dramatic examples. They
are the Hikoi Takutai Moana, April 2004, and the Enough is Enough Rally,
August 2004
In the final section, we will consider the implications for psychologies and
psychologists working today in Aotearoa.

year: 2003-08