Educators weighing pluses and minuses of a 'digital detox' in school

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare says a "digital detox" for schools will be on the agenda at a meeting with his state counterparts expected early next month.

It follows efforts by some governments overseas to reduce screen time in classrooms, and growing scrutiny of the impact of digital devices on learning.

Mr Clare has said results from the recent Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) show there is a "need to wind back the amount of screen time in schools — a digital detox".

Sweden has made one of the most high-profile efforts to replace screens with paper and books in classrooms since 2023.

However, like many other high-income nations, its results in PISA last year showed further declines, especially in reading and maths.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report on the 2025 PISA results last month said the impact of digital devices on learning depended on how they were used.

"Across OECD countries, moderate use of digital devices for learning is associated with stronger science performance, while excessive use and digital distraction are associated with weaker outcomes," it said.

Neil Selwyn, a Monash University professor and expert on digital education, said some countries pushing ahead with digital technology in schools had done well in PISA.

"If we take things like PISA seriously — and there are a lot of reasons to treat them with a pinch of salt — then whether a school system is tech-centred or not doesn't seem to be a clear determining factor," he said.

So what do Sweden's efforts to remove screens from classrooms teach other countries such as Australia? And how do countries that performed well in PISA, including in Asia Pacific, use digital devices in schools?

Sweden's approach to digital learning has "shifted extremely" in the past decade, according to Ingrid Forsler, an associate professor and researcher in media technologies in education at Södertörn University.

"We have gone from being very pro-digitalisation to having, at least on the surface, a very extreme de-digitalisation approach," she said.

This was partly a response to research into how digital devices caused distractions in learning, while politicians had also received popular support for reducing screen time in classrooms, Dr Forsler said.

Sweden's government has started work on new curricula that would make compulsory schooling largely screen-free, particularly in early and middle years, and it has banned mobile phones in schools.

Simona Mohamsson, Sweden's education minister, said it had also funded new books for schools since it began pursuing a "back to basics" policy focusing on teaching reading, writing and maths.

She said its approach was consistent with research showing children learned these skills most effectively using "analogue tools in analogue environments".

"It will take some time for all these reforms to be fully implemented and have an impact," Ms Mohamsson said.

Some studies have indicated that young people may comprehend texts better on paper rather than screens, although experts say the evidence on whether digital technology benefits overall learning is mixed and depends on how it is used.

Dr Forsler said Sweden's so-called "screen to binder" reforms have, in some ways, been superficial so far.

"What is limited is mainly the use of private devices for students and also laptops and tablets for younger students.

"It's too early to say if there are any successes, so to speak."

Sweden's recent PISA test results were among the lowest ever for the country.

Dr Forsler said supporters of "screen to binder" policies had seen this as reason to push harder in removing digital learning from schools.

Professor Selwyn, from Monash University, said Sweden's teachers and schools had received "a huge amount of work" scrambling to adjust to the policy change.

"At the moment the main lesson that we can take from Sweden is that it is extremely difficult to 'turn off' technology in schools at the whim of a minister," he said.

Meanwhile, nearby Estonia achieved strong PISA results without banning mobile phones in schools and was embracing artificial intelligence tools in secondary schools, Professor Selwyn said.

"The Estonian government put their success down to a history of trusting schools and teachers to make their own decisions, having high expectations of students, consulting with students and parents, and properly evaluating what they do with tech as they go along," he said.

"They would argue that their success is down to a system-wide set of factors — and that tech use is part of this, not a driving factor."

Students from Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang — some of China's most economically developed regions — also had strong PISA results on reading, science and maths.

Hongzhi Zhang, a senior lecturer on education at Monash University, said exams throughout China were still paper-based, and students did much of their work in handwriting rather than on digital devices.

Schools still taught digital skills in IT classrooms but managed how devices were used, considering how they would enhance student learning, he said.

"If not, they just put it away," Dr Zhang said.

However, Yong Zhao, a professor and expert on technology in education at the University of Kansas, said in some ways China was moving in a different direction from countries trying to reduce digital learning.

Education authorities in Shanghai and Beijing are experimenting with AI-based education in schools.

"They're not trying to detox that way," Dr Zhao said.

Meanwhile, he said education authorities also wanted students spending more time exercising and staying healthy, with less focus on test scores.

He also argued that the focus on PISA results risked losing sight of other aspects of education, such as helping students develop an interest in solving problems that matter to others.

Professor Zhao said students would need to learn how to use digital technology critically.

"They will live in a world that's dominated by these devices."

Japan was another of the top performers in last year's PISA, although it also recorded declines in reading results.

Government efforts to bring devices such as digital textbooks into schools had faced some resistance, according to Adelaide University professor and education scholar Keita Takayama.

"Parents and teachers were not fully on board with it," he said.

"They were concerned about the amount of time the kids would be spending looking at the digital devices.

'"The government ended up not pushing it too far."

Professor Takayama said the government had pursued the changes believing they would help give students digital technology skills they would need at work.

Among the strengths of Japan's education system, he pointed to the huge efforts teachers made to create a sense of belonging among students.

"It's so centrally related to students' academic or cognitive development," Professor Takayama said.

He supported reducing screen time in Australian schools, but said it was too early to say whether it would immediately improve student performance.

"It's important for students to be able to engage in a relationship of learning that is not necessarily mediated by technological tools," he said.

"The minimum you could say in terms of the benefit of this digital detoxing in schools is that it could potentially have health benefits."