Published15 minutes ago
The Conservatives have promised to halt screen-based exams and cut coursework in a bid to limit the use of AI by schoolchildren in England if the party returns to power.
The party has also pledged to develop new guidelines so that laptops and tablets are not the "default in classrooms".
Shadow education secretary Laura Trott cited recent warnings from clinicians that excessive screen time could be damaging children's health, adding that "everything in schools must be safe for children and improve standards".
The government is currently developing new screen-time guidance for children and has previously said it would consult on the safety of AI in schools.
The vast majority of school exams in the UK are pen and paper based. Under the previous government led by Sir Keir Starmer, exam regulator Ofqual launched a consultation last year, external on the introduction of on-screen exams.
But it emphasised that pen and paper would "remain central" and that the most widely taken subjects would not be moving to digital assessments for the "foreseeable future".
In their announcement on Sunday, the Tories said they would "put a stop" to the introduction of screen-based exams, and require screen time for secondary pupils to be limited to no more than two hours a day.
The party said it would also minimise the amount of coursework in school assessments to avoid lowering educational standards "by allowing children to become overly reliant on the use of generative AI platforms".
Under the plans, primary schools would be required to keep screen use to a minimum and only use screens where necessary, such as in computing lessons.
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The announcement comes after a group of more than 150 clinicians warned last month that the amount of time children in England spend on screens at school could be harming their "physical and developmental health".
An open letter to Education Secretary Lucy Powell and Health Secretary Yvette Cooper from the clinicians said they were prescribing glasses, hearing aids and speech therapy to children "for a problem that is unintentionally being made worse in our schools".
Trott said: "I want to slash screen use in classrooms and set a new norm where screens are no longer the default. That means no screens in early years, minimal use in primary schools except where required by the curriculum."
Figures from the most recent government survey, external show that in 2024, most teachers (89%) used interactive whiteboards within lessons. But the survey also found that most teachers – 79% in primary and 69% in secondary – said pupils were using individual devices in fewer than a quater of lessons, or not at all.
The Tories said their plans draw on the work of the Health Professionals for Safer Screens campaign group, which has warned about the effects of excessive screen time on children.
Its founder Dr Rebecca Foljambe said: "We have become excessively preoccupied with why children are on screens. Although content is important, this distracts from the fact that daily screen time can profoundly affect a child's health, whatever they are watching or doing."
As part of its proposal, the Tories said £900m that "the government currently spends on EdTech" would be repurposed to create a £250m fund for new textbooks.
A Department for Education spokesperson said schools decided how much to spend on educational technology, which alongside screens also included things such as management information systems, from within their own budgets.
"It is up to schools to decide how they use their funding in the best interests of pupils," they said.
They added: "Building on the guidance we have published for children under 5, in the new year the department will publish clear guidance on screen use for all children aged 5 to 18, giving parents the advice they need."
A ban on smartphones in schools in England came into force in June, making individual schools and trusts legally responsible for being phone-free throughout the day.
Education is a devolved matter in the UK, with each of the four nations managing their own systems.
The UK social media ban for under-16s – banning children from major platforms such as TikTok and Instagram – will come into force in March.
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