NAPLAN Year 5 Writing Returns to Paper
Australia’s education ministers have agreed that the NAPLAN writing test for year 5 students will return to pen and paper from 2028, in response to mounting concern over the effects of screen time in classrooms.
The year 3 writing test is already administered on paper, and New South Wales is pressing for the same approach in years 7 and 9, though ministers have not yet reached a decision on those levels.
New South Wales Deputy Premier and Education Minister Prue Car said there was “a lot of evidence” that excessive screen time had harmed student outcomes. “They actually do better when they’re writing pen to paper,” she added, noting that paper-based tests would also require more handwriting practice in classrooms. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, which runs NAPLAN, will advise on any further changes.
The decision follows Australian students recording their worst-ever results in the Programme for International Student Assessment. The same data showed students spending an average of 2.6 hours a day on digital devices, compared with an OECD average of 1.7 hours. NAPLAN results have long indicated that roughly one-third of students fail to meet expectations in foundational literacy and numeracy.
Ministers also agreed to begin work on a broader “digital detox” for classrooms. In New South Wales, mandatory screen-time limits will take effect from 2028 and will be phased in from preschool through the final year of secondary school. Dany Elachi, founder of the parents’ group Heads Up Alliance, welcomed the measures but said more action was required, describing the 2008 Digital Education Revolution as “a vast experiment on our children.”
A communiqué expected from the ministers is set to endorse a new federal super commission, in part to tackle year 12 dropout rates. Ministers were also examining possible changes to the primary mathematics curriculum and additions to the national curriculum addressing antisemitism.
