{"id":606215,"date":"2026-09-20T12:42:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T12:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/606215\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T12:42:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T12:42:51","slug":"national-vows-to-limit-screen-time-in-primary-schools-early-childhood-centres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/606215\/","title":{"rendered":"National vows to limit screen time in primary schools, early childhood centres"},"content":{"rendered":"

A re-elected National government wants to ban screen time<\/a> in early childhood education centres and intends to limit screen use in years 1 to 3.<\/p>\n

The party said it wanted a greater emphasis on books, handwriting, conversation, hands-on activities and direct interaction with teachers and other children.<\/p>\n

National’s education spokesperson Erica Stanford said New Zealand was not alone in reconsidering how much time children spent learning through screens, with the international direction showing that, particularly for young children, digital did not automatically mean better.<\/p>\n

“There is also growing evidence about the importance of handwriting and learning by hand. Forming letters helps children learn and retain information. When children are first learning to read and write, that matters,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Technology still has a place in education, but it should enhance learning, not become the default way children learn,” Stanford said.<\/p>\n

The policy<\/p>\n

End screen and individual-device use in ECE, tightly limit screen and individual-device use in Years 1 to 3, and introduce age-appropriate limits for older primary studentsIntroduce a School Start Check at ECE before children transition to primary schoolIntroduce clearer developmental milestones throughout ECE and report this progress to parentsIdentify areas where children may need additional support and address that through the Early Intervention ServiceRequire the writing component of twice-yearly primary school assessments to be completed on paper<\/p>\n

The government has already banned cellphones in schools<\/a> and is legislating to ban social media for under-16s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It pointed to a study from Singapore which found screen exposure was leading to differences in brain activity, as well a separate study which linked higher screen use in early childhood with poorer academic performance and working memory.<\/p>\n

While the studies mainly measured viewing at home, and could not prove screens caused the outcome, National said they added to the case for caution.<\/p>\n

The policy is part of the party’s ECE policy platform, which includes a new ‘School Start Check’ at ECE before children move to primary school.<\/p>\n

While it would not be a pass-fail test, or prevent a child from starting school, it would set clear expectations about what children need to develop before they attend school, such as toilet training, eating and dressing independently, and holding a pencil.<\/p>\n

Stanford said ECE centres would work with parents to assess how ready a child was to start school and where they would need extra support.<\/p>\n

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the proposal was a solution looking for a problem.<\/p>\n

“All of the evidence will tell you if you want to improve outcomes in early childhood education you focus on getting quality teachers in front of those kids.<\/p>\n

“That’s something that this government have dialled back the progress on,” he said.<\/p>\n

“They’ve been deregulating the standards that the staff working with kids in early childhood education need to meet.”<\/p>\n

Green Party co-leader Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick told media her party were interested at looking at the policy, but said children weren’t the only ones struggling with screentime.<\/p>\n

“These devices are designed to addict us to them, so, yes, we are interested in exploring the details of that policy because it does make sense that we protect developing brains.”<\/p>\n

“We just, again, continue to be concerned about the fixation solely on younger people, to the exclusion of recognising and making accountable those who have responsibility for creating these devices and wiring the algorithms, which juice so much of our attention.” she said.<\/p>\n

An early childhood education advocate welcomed it, telling RNZ the policy would be helpful for rangatahi.<\/p>\n

Kelly Seaburg, from Advocates for Early Learning Excellence, believed it would help teachers track and explain children’s progress at school.<\/p>\n

“The curriculum we have in New Zealand is tremendous, between Te Wh\u0101riki and K\u014dwhiti Whakapae which also focuses on … language, math, social-emotional development, so we’ve got a great curriculum but we’ve got really inconsistent ways in which it’s reported to parents.”<\/p>\n

It would also make it easier to identify those needing extra help, she said, however teachers would need guidance and enough resources for it to work effectively.<\/p>\n

ACT leader and associate Education Minister David Seymour said while his “heart sinks” when he sees children “glued to screens”, there was nothing stopping early childhood centres from enacting the policy now.<\/p>\n

“What is the the logic of the government requiring it?<\/p>\n

“They may have a good answer for that, but I would have thought it was the right decision that can already be made and if the centres aren’t making the decision, and the parents aren’t demanding it, they may have a reason the National Party is not aware of,” he said.<\/p>\n

Read all of the election policies released so far in our full guide<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A re-elected National government wants to ban screen time in early childhood education centres and intends to limit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-606215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}