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School students will be limited to as little as 15 minutes of screen time per day in NSW classrooms as the Minns government seeks to arrest the alarming drop in Australia’s global reading and writing standards.
The new policy, announced by Education Minister Prue Car on Sunday, will also require students to write with a pen and paper for at least one hour per day and seek to limit the use of laptops, tablets and other digital devices in homework.
To be introduced next year before being mandated in 2028, the directive comes after the most recent Programme for International Assessment (PISA) results showed nearly a quarter of all NSW students are now classified as “low performers” in maths.
The results of the PISA tests – which assess 15-year-olds across the OECD – were Australia’s worst ever in both reading and numeracy.
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The poor results internationally added fuel to concerns the increasing use of technology in schools is having a negative impact on learning, and Car said government-commissioned research has also shown issues with students being distracted by screens in classrooms.
“An entire generation of students are increasingly living in an online world. We have a responsibility to ensure their health and education isn’t adversely affected by excessive screen use,” she said.
“When the research is telling us teenagers are spending as much as seven hours a day on screens, and we are seeing reading and writing skills going backwards for a whole generation of children, we have to act.
The new policy will be introduced next year before being mandated in 2028. It will see the use of screens scaled up over time, beginning with a 15-minute per day cap for kindergarten to year two.
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That will increase to 45 minutes per day by years five and six, up to a quarter of the time per subject for years seven to 10, and up to half the time per subject for years 11 and 12.
PISA assesses how well school systems prepare 15-year-olds to meet real-world challenges at the end of their compulsory education. The tests are held every three years, and the 2025 results saw declines in many countries internationally, part of a trend policymakers have attributed to fewer students engaging in sustained reading and digital distractions.
“Our government’s research is telling us that excessive screen use is a problem, and that parents want screens to be used intentionally. That means screens should not be the default,” Car said.
The new policy will include guidelines recommending a minimum of one hour a day of learning using pen and paper, while parents will be asked to limit screen time for homework. Schools will recommend students not use digital devices for homework before Year 5.
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Michael McGowan is state political editor for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.AdvertisementAdvertisement