We put laptops and tablets into classrooms with a promise that technology would improve education. Nearly two decades later, parents and teachers are asking a confronting question: Did we get it wrong?

Justin speaks with Danny Alachi, founder of the Heads Up Alliance, and Victorian high school teacher Steph Challis about the push to reduce screen use in Australian schools. They unpack classroom distraction, declining literacy, the value of handwriting and physical books, and why teaching digital skills doesn’t require kids to spend every lesson behind a screen.

They also explain a new national petition calling for no one-to-one devices in primary schools, books and paper to become the default in high school, a pause on generative AI in classrooms, safer evidence-based educational apps, and a renewed focus on reading and handwriting.

KEY POINTS

• Why one-to-one devices may be doing more harm than good in primary classrooms
• The distraction problem teachers are seeing when laptops are open
• Why books, handwriting and paper still matter for learning
• The difference between teaching digital literacy and teaching through a screen
• Why technology should have to prove it improves learning before schools adopt it
• The five changes the Heads Up Alliance wants Australian schools to make

QUOTE OF THE EPISODE

“Schools need to remember what they're for. They're there to teach children how to learn.”

Steph Challis

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Heads Up Alliance
• Sign the petition

ACTION STEPS FOR PARENTS

• Look at how devices are being used in your child’s classroom, not simply whether they are being used.
• Ask your school when screens genuinely improve learning and when books, paper and handwriting could work better.
• Read the petition and sign it if you support the proposed changes.