Australia will return to pen-and-paper writing tests for Year 5 pupils from 2028 following growing concerns over the impact of excessive screen time and digital technology on children’s learning outcomes.

The decision, agreed by the country’s education ministers, will see pupils take the National Assessment Programme – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) writing test on paper rather than computers.

According to an updated ABC News report late Tuesday, South Wales Deputy Premier and Education Minister, Prue Car, said there was growing evidence that excessive screen exposure was affecting students and their academic performance.

“There is a lot of evidence to suggest that excessive screen time has been harmful for students and their outcomes.

“Ministers across the country have agreed that we work towards year 5 NAPLAN being writing with pen and paper, that will be in addition to year 3 already being pen and paper,” Car said.

Car is also pushing for the writing assessments for Years 7 and 9 to return to paper, with the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, which administers NAPLAN, expected to provide advice to ministers on the proposal.

Explaining the decision, she said students performed better when writing by hand than typing on screens.

“It’s about the evidence of how children learn and they actually do better when they’re writing pen to paper as opposed to typing on screen.

“So making sure that the assessment is actually pen to paper will then necessitate more classroom time being pen and paper as opposed to a computer,” she said.

The decision comes amid concerns about declining academic performance among Australian pupils, with recent international assessments highlighting challenges in literacy, numeracy and students’ use of digital devices.

Australian students recorded their worst-ever results in the recent Programme for International Student Assessment, which compares educational performance across countries.

The assessment found that Australian students spent an average of 2.6 hours daily using digital devices, compared with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average of 1.7 hours.

NAPLAN results have also consistently shown that about one-third of Australian students are not meeting what education authorities describe as challenging but reasonable expectations in foundational literacy and numeracy.

The Heads Up Alliance, a grassroots movement of parents campaigning against screen time, welcomed the proposed changes but called for more comprehensive reforms.

Its founder, Dany Elachi, said the decision was a step in the right direction but argued that more needed to be done to reverse the decline in educational standards.

“New South Wales’ recently announced screen time parameters and proposed NAPLAN reforms are welcome steps in the right direction.

“However, more will be needed to reverse the decline in Australian educational standards. It turns out that Australia’s Digital Education Revolution of 2008 was, in effect, a vast experiment on our children. Today, the results of that experiment have become impossible to ignore,” Elachi said.

La Trobe University Distinguished Professor Pamela Snow also backed calls for a broader reassessment of technology use in schools, arguing that its adoption had moved faster than the available evidence supporting its benefits.

“I think as a general principle, the application of technology and education has got way ahead of the evidence.

“We can’t just keep going with these stopgap measures of tinkering around the edges downstream,” Snow said.

Snow said technology was introduced into classrooms too quickly.

“It’s now just become normalised, and, of course, it’s difficult now to wind it back and calibrate its use, but I’m not aware of any actual evidence that says technology has enhanced students learning,” she added.

Car said education ministers had also agreed to begin work on a broader digital detox initiative for Australian classrooms.

“State and territory ministers and the Commonwealth have agreed to start work on a digital detox for Australian classrooms.

“In New South Wales mandatorily from 2028, we’re going forward with screen time limits in classrooms, phased in from preschool to year 12 in the HSC year,” she said.

The education ministers are expected to release a communique later in the week outlining further reforms, including a proposed federal super commission partly aimed at addressing concerns over Year 12 dropout rates.

The ministers are also considering reforms to the primary school mathematics curriculum and additions to the national curriculum to address anti-Semitism.