New NSW Government recommendations will aim to limit the time students have access to screens in classrooms. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
NSW students will soon be limited in how much time they can use screens in classrooms, with the new recommendation to be introduced from the beginning of 2027 and enforced by 2028.
The new restrictions come in response to the OECD’s recent International Student Assessment, which found that Australian students are more than twice as likely to spend more than two hours a day on a screen at school than students in other countries.
The same assessment found Australia’s academic results are dropping, particularly in reading and writing among 12- to 15-year-olds.
The screen time restrictions will include laptops, tablets and desktop computers. They will limit kindergarten to Year 2 students to just 15 minutes a day, 30 minutes a day for Years 3 and 4, up to 45 minutes a day for Years 5 and 6, up to one-quarter of the time per subject for Years 7 to 10 and up to half the time per subject for Years 11 and 12.
New recommendations will also ask schools to limit reliance on screens for homework, as well as set a minimum amount of time for using pen and paper each day.
NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car said the response from the NSW Government is to ensure students’ health and education aren’t adversely affected by excessive screen use.
“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.
“We have already seen positive results from our ban on mobile phones, with fewer distractions in class and improved engagement – not just with their studies, but with each other as well.
“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 planned screen restrictions follow the NSW Government’s push to find more uses for schools’ outdoor spaces, to get more children participating in physical activity.
Share Our Space will see another 20 public schools across the state open their ovals on weekends and school holidays, bringing the total number of participating schools in NSW to 250.
The new initiative will also mean any new public schools in NSW will offer some form of open access to their outdoor spaces for surrounding communities.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said public schools’ outdoor spaces are vital to students’ wellbeing, even during holiday periods.
“Our school ovals and sports courts are too valuable to sit unused behind locked gates when there are no kids in the classroom,” he said.
“We’ve already opened up these facilities to the community at nearly 250 schools across the state. Now, we’re making sure every new public school built in NSW does the same.
“This means more communities can access sporting facilities outside school hours and during the school holidays.”
To find participating schools, visit Share Our Space.
