The New South Wales government will cap daily individual student device use in public schools with limits ranging from 15 minutes for the youngest grades to half of subject time for senior students, in what officials describe as a response to declining academic performance and concern over excessive screen time. The policy will be introduced from the first day of Term 1 in 2027 and become mandatory in 2028, giving schools and teachers time to adjust resources and practices.
Education Minister Prue Car indicated that screen time in schools should be reduced and that pen-and-paper methods should serve as the default. Car cited PISA data showing Australian students were nearly twice as likely as the OECD average to spend more than two hours a day learning on digital devices. The policy builds on NSW's 2023 ban on mobile phones in all public school classrooms and recent restrictions on take-home assessments for HSC students intended to combat AI use.
The caps by grade level
The NSW Department of Education published the following limits, which operate as averages across a school week. No device use is permitted in public preschools. Kindergarten through Year 2 students are capped at 15 minutes per day. Years 3 and 4 are capped at 30 minutes per day. Years 5 and 6 are capped at 45 minutes per day. For Years 7 through 10, screen time is limited to one-quarter of subject time. For Years 11 and 12, the limit is half of subject time.
The policy also recommends a minimum of one hour per day of pen-and-paper learning, citing evidence of the benefits of handwriting and reading from paper. Schools will recommend that students not use digital devices for homework before Year 5. Exemptions and adjustments are available for students with disability, those with additional needs, students for whom English is not a first language, or where digital support is part of a personalized learning plan.
Comparable policies elsewhere
NSW's grade-by-grade minute caps are among the most specific screen-time mandates in any school system globally. In the United States, several school districts have adopted similar tiered instructional screen-time limits, though no state has imposed such caps on school-issued devices statewide.
The Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest in the U.S., approved a screen-time policy in June 2026 that eliminates district-issued device use for preschool through 1st grade, limits grades 2 and 3 to 20 minutes per day, grades 4 and 5 to 30 minutes per day, grades 6 through 8 to 60 minutes per subject per week, and grades 9 through 12 to 90 minutes per subject per week. Implementation is phased from August 2026 through January 2027.
Argyle Independent School District in Texas adopted grade-level daily screen-time limits: Pre-K through kindergarten at 15 minutes per day, grades 1 and 2 at 30 minutes per day, grades 3 through 5 at 60 minutes per day, and grades 6 through 12 at 100 minutes per day. These are district-level limits, not state-mandated caps.
Urbandale Community School District in Iowa set daily instructional screen-time guidelines: preschool at 0 to 15 minutes, kindergarten through 2nd grade at 20 to 30 minutes, grades 3 through 5 at 30 to 45 minutes, grades 6 through 8 at 10 to 15 minutes per class period, and grades 9 through 12 at 20 to 30 minutes per class period. These are district guidelines, not state mandates.
Fayetteville School District in Arkansas updated its screen-time guidelines in 2024 and revised them in 2026: kindergarten and 1st grade at 30 minutes per day, grades 2 and 3 at 45 minutes, grade 4 at 60 minutes, grades 5 and 6 at 90 minutes, and grades 7 and 8 at 180 minutes. High school students have no strict time limit. Arkansas's Bell to Bell, No Cell Act of 2025 bars personal device use during the school day statewide.
Maquoketa Valley School District in Iowa adopted a board policy capping digital instruction at 60 minutes per school day for grades K through 5, with exceptions for individualized education programs, 504 plans, assistive technology, state assessments, and dedicated computer science courses.
The evidence base
The policy is grounded in several sources of evidence, but the link between screen time and academic outcomes is not uniformly established.
The OECD's PISA 2025 results found that Australian students are nearly twice as likely as the OECD average to spend more than two hours per day using digital devices for learning. Australia recorded its worst-ever reading and math scores in the assessment. OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann observed that declining reading results have occurred alongside greater use of digital tools, increased screen time, and reduced reading for pleasure. Officials noted that this is a correlation, not a proven causal link.
In NSW, 24 percent of students were classified as low performers in reading, 18 percent in science, and 29 percent in mathematics. Australia ranked 11th in reading and science and 17th in mathematics globally.
PISA national project manager Lisa De Bortoli, at the Australian Council for Education Research, noted that NSW's performance decline was less pronounced than in some other Australian states and territories, including in mathematics. This tempers the suggestion that NSW's screen use is uniquely responsible for the decline.
The NSW Department of Education's Screen Use Research and Resource Hub cites a study by researchers Arnup and Edwards at Australian National University, published in May 2026, that followed almost 8,000 Australian adolescents over three years using 24-hour time-use diaries, examining how different types and levels of screen use were associated with academic performance and wellbeing. The specific findings of this study are not detailed in available sources.
NSW government-commissioned research found that half of surveyed students reported being distracted by devices, while only 45 percent of secondary parents and 32 percent of primary parents felt the benefits of technology in schools outweigh the disadvantages. This is survey-based attitudinal data, not a controlled study of academic outcomes.
NSW Health chief pediatrician Dr. Helen Goodwin endorsed the policy, citing concerns that excessive screen time can interfere with activities important to children's growth and development.