News Investigation

Mobile phones will be banned in NSW primary schools from next year

Dec 2018 🇦🇺 ABC News

This ABC News report covers the outcome of the expert review Michael Carr-Gregg led for the New South Wales government, commissioned in mid-2018, which drew on roughly 14,000 survey responses and 80 written submissions. Following the review, NSW announced it would require public primary schools to ban student mobile phones from the following year, with high schools given the option to opt in. The review's submissions raised concerns including students sharing explicit images and predatory contact from strangers online. Carr-Gregg is quoted describing the case for a ban as a 'no-brainer' given the scale of public and political support, and predicting a broader statewide school phone ban within roughly a year. TechKids Foundation cites this as the primary documented account of the policy outcome tied to his review.

~14,000 survey responses, 80 submissions

The NSW government review Carr-Gregg led considered roughly 14,000 survey responses and 80 written submissions before recommending the primary-school phone ban.

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CITATION

McKinnell, Jamie, and Stephanie Tiller. "Mobile phones will be banned in NSW primary schools from next year." ABC News, 13 December 2018. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-13/nsw-phone-ban-aims-to-reduce-bullying/10612950

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