• iceberg
  • boy with flowers
  • checking water quality
  • planet eclipse
  • solarsystem model
  • rangitoto trees
  • kids with test tubes
  • kids with earth
  • snowy mountains
  • teens in physics class
  • Rainbow Clouds

    Refraction and diffraction of light through ice crystals in the clouds

  • Philippa On The Ice

    Philippa On The Ice Philippa Werry at an Antarctic research camp 2016

New Zealand Science Teacher

Safety

Safety, ethics, and science fairs

Research programmes and activities should not put students in situations where their health or safety is at risk. 

160930771 checking water qualityIn planning and implementing their curricula, teachers are required to take account of the appropriate Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) regulations, the 1996 Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act (including the Exempt Laboratory Regulations 2001).

They must also consider animal ethics, and human ethics when engaging in research or projects that involve people. The following links may be of some help:

Animal ethics

Ethics approval for the use of animals in research and teaching in schools, home schools and early childhood centres Animals have their own needs and it matters to them how they are treated. We have a duty to provide animals in our care with those needs, – food and water, shelter, the opportunity to behave normally, careful handling, and good health. Under the Animal Welfare Act 1999, research and teaching involving manipulating live animals may require ethics approval. This requirement also applies to animals used in schools and school activities. View the NZASE Code of Conduct for the use of animals.

Code of Practice for School Laboratories

Under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (HSNO), teaching and research laboratories may be exempted from certain parts of the Act, provided the laboratories meet the requirements of the Exempt Laboratories Regulations 2001. One means of complying with these regulations is to conform to an Approved Code of Practice. A Code of Practice for schools has been developed by NZASE and approved by ERMA NZ. 10 January 2007. If schools do not follow this code, school managers should ensure they comply with Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Exempt Laboratory) Regulations 2001.

Click here to access the Code of Practice in PDF format

CREST ethical practice

CREST is about encouraging good, ethical practice and must meet commonly accepted ethical standards.

Ethical practice when doing research: guidelines for students and their supervising teachers

These are guidelines for the use of humans in experiments and research, developed by the New Zealand Association of Science Educators (Ministry of Education (2000). Safety and Science: Revised Edition: A Guidance Manual for New Zealand Schools.

Health and safety within schools

Safety and ethical considerations from TKI.

Safety and science

Revised Edition (2007)

Safety and technology education: a guidance manual for New Zealand schools

Safety and Technology Education: A Guidance Manual for New Zealand Schools, provides teachers and boards of trustees with the information necessary to establish sound health and safety policies and procedures for technology teaching.

It interprets and applies the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 as well as other relevant Acts and Regulations within the context of technology teaching in New Zealand schools.

It also refers to other statements with which teachers and boards of trustees should be familiar, especially National Administration Guidelines 3 (iii) and 5.

Science and technology fairs

You may want to get in contact with your regional science and technology fair to see how they encourage good ethical practice.

Just click on any of the following links:

Auckland Science & Technology

Bay of Plenty Science and Technology Fair

Canterbury Science & Technology Fair

Central Northland Science & Technology Fair

Far North Science and Technology Fair

Gisborne Science & Technology Fair

Hawkes Bay Science & Technology Fair

Manawatu Science & Technology Fair

Manukau Science and Technology Fair

Marlborough Science & Technology Fairs

Nelson Science & Technology Fair

Otago Science & Technology Fair

Southland Science and Technology Fair

Waikato Science and Technology Fair

Wellington Science & Technology Fair

-          Thanks to Jessie McKenzie and Debbie Woodhall from the Royal Society for these links.

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