Personal electronic device restrictions
All government, Catholic and independent schools must restrict student use of personal electronic devices during the school day. This is a requirement of the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 and Ministerial Order No. 1515 – Personal Electronic Devices in Victorian Schools (Ministerial Order 1515).
Personal electronic devices include mobile phones, smart glasses, wearable devices such as smart watches, and personal audio devices such as wired and wireless headphones and earbuds.
From the start of 2027:
- Mobile phones and smart glasses brought to school must be switched off and stored in a way that restricts student access to them.
- Wearable devices must have notifications, cellular connection and recording functions turned off during school hours.
- Personal audio devices must not be used during school hours.
Non-government schools must have a policy that includes these restrictions and may include additional requirements.
For government schools, these restrictions and additional requirements are set out in the Mobile phones and personal electronic devices – student use policy. Individual schools may also have additional restrictions in their local policies.
The Minister for Education has also issued a Ministerial policy which bans anyone on government school premises or at school-organised events from wearing or using smart glasses, at any time.
The aim of these restrictions is to:
- reduce health, safety and privacy risks associated with these devices
- reduce unnecessary distraction in the classroom
- promote more social interaction and physical activity during break times.
The use of technology is important, but the risks and benefits from its use need to be managed.
Emergencies
In emergencies, parents can contact their children through the school office.
Exceptions
Schools are only able to make exemptions to these restrictions to support:
- student learning
- health or wellbeing
- managing safety when offsite.
Smart glasses pose unique privacy risks. Schools can only provide an exemption for smart glasses if they are a reasonable adjustment for a student with disability and the adjustment cannot be reasonably provided by another device or approach. For example, a student with vision impairment may be provided with an exemption to wear smart glasses if there is no other reasonable way to provide the support they need.
Your child’s school can give you more information about exemptions.
Exclusions
The restrictions do not apply to surgically implanted medical devices or assistive hearing devices. This includes hearing aids and Cochlear implants.
Family support
Talking about personal electronic device use as a family is a great way to support safe and responsible technology use.
The eSafety Commissioner website has many resources for families. Such as:
- Screen time for your child – 7 tips (PDF, 172KB) – how families can balance their time on and offline
- Online safety: a guide for parents and carers (PDF, 1.5MB) – a great guide on how to tackle the big online issues.
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