Overview
- The NSW government has cancelled expectations that public primary students bring their own laptops or tablets, meaning parents will not be required to buy devices for school use in 2027.
- As part of the policy change, the state will give books to children at kindergarten orientation and has set screen-use rules that will become mandatory by 2028, including limits as low as 15 minutes a day for students in Year 2 and below.
- State and territory education ministers agreed to return Year 5 NAPLAN writing tests to pen and paper and to merge four national education bodies into the new Australian Teaching and Learning Commission to centralise curriculum and assessment policy.
- Officials also created a New Australian Schools Digital Detox Taskforce and have broadly backed removing more classroom technology, with proposals to limit artificial intelligence in primary and high school assessments still being developed.
- The changes follow surprising declines in 2026 writing scores, especially in Years 3 and 5, and are presented as a way to ease household costs from de facto BYOD demands while raising questions about how schools will keep teaching digital skills.