The New South Wales government has announced new guidelines limiting screen time for public school students to improve academic performance. Students from kindergarten to year 2 will be allowed only 15 minutes of daily screen use, increasing gradually up to 45 minutes for years 5 and 6. Starting next year but becoming mandatory in 2028, the rules aim to reverse a decline in test scores as measured by OECD’s PISA assessment, where Australian students spend nearly twice as much time on digital devices compared to the average OECD country.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-13,
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Story summary
The NSW state government announced new guidelines limiting screen time in public schools, set to take effect next year but becoming mandatory from 2028. Students from kindergarten through year 2 will be restricted to just 15 minutes of daily screen use, increasing gradually as they progress: up to 30 minutes for years 3 and 4, 45 minutes for years 5 and 6. For high school students, digital learning can account for a maximum of 25% of their coursework. Education Minister Prue Car stated that the goal is to reduce reliance on screens and encourage traditional methods like pen and paper in early education. The announcement comes amid concerns about excessive screen time affecting student performance, especially after NSW students' scores declined significantly in the latest OECD PISA rankings.
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In short:
Public school students in NSW will be allowed as little as 15 minutes of screen time a day under new state government guidelines.
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students → allow → guidelines
The limits will increase as students progress through primary, but will be more relaxed for high-schoolers.
What's next?
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What → increase → schoolers
The guidelines will take effect next year and will become mandatory from 2028.
Students in NSW public schools will be limited to as little as 15 minutes of screen time per day, under guidelines announced by the state government.
The 15-minute limit will apply to students from kindergarten to year 2.
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limit → take → year
Students in years 3 and 4 will have up to 30 minutes of daily classroom screen time, increasing to 45 minutes for years 5 and 6.
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Students → have → years
The guidelines will be introduced next year, but will not become mandatory until 2028.
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guidelines → introduce → 2028
Education Minister Prue Car said children needed to get back to basics, including using pens and paper.
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children → say → pens
"We want to make sure that at school it's not the default, that the default is pen and paper.
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default → want → school
Screen time limits will be more relaxed for high-schoolers, with digital learning allowed to make up 25 per cent of a subject's coursework for years 7 to 10.
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learning → allow → 10
Students in years 11 and 12 will be able to spend half their class time on digital devices like laptops and tablets.
Raising standards
The state government said the screen time limits were designed to arrest a "worrying trend" of falling academic results.
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limits → spend → results
Ms Car said according to the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Australian students were nearly twice as likely to spend more than two hours a day learning using digital devices than the OECD average.
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students → say → average
Last week, PISA data also showed reading and mathematics scores for15 year olds in NSW were going backwards.
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scores → show → NSW
"There's no doubt the two are linked, and they're linked around the world," Ms Car said.
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Car → be → world
Education secretary Murat Dizdar said while technology would continue to play an important role in classrooms, imposing screen time limits would help students concentrate.
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students → say → limits
"It's about backing in the research and evidence that our own students and our teachers are telling us around avoiding distractions in the learning process.
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students → back → process
While mobile phones have been banned in all NSW classrooms for several years, some schools have recently been trialling their own limits on other forms of screen time.
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schools → ban → time
Chatswood High School principal, Robin Chand, said since paring back the use of digital devices, staff had noticed an improvement in students' handwriting and engagement.
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staff → say → handwriting
"I know that this will be welcomed by students because students directly tell me that they feel relieved at times when they are working directly with pen and paper and their course books," Mr Chand said.
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Chand → know → pen
"When screens go down, relationships go up.
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relationships → go → ?
"And the relationships that are the most important in our classroom are relationships between the students and their teachers," he said.
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he → say → students
Seventeen-year-old student, Archie Newman, said learning with hard copy books, pens and paper had allowed him to slow down and think more deeply, without the temptations of a laptop or tablet.
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him → say → laptop
"I was someone who could get distracted so easily with digital technology," he said.
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he → distract → technology
"And [now] the emphasis on handwriting is allowing me and my learning experience to be maximised."
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me → allow → handwriting