The federal government will make the change to NAPLAN testing after state education ministers met on Monday to discuss national priorities
August NAPLAN results showed reading scores were worse than in 2025 for every tested grade level. Year 5 students were the only group whose writing ability had improved.
NSW Education Minister Prue Car said Monday's testing talks were productive.
"Education ministers across the country have agreed we work towards the year 5 NAPLAN writing test being completed with pen and paper," she told AAP.
After August's declining scores, federal Education Minister Jason Clare questioned whether screen-time was to blame.
"Some of the writing results make me wonder whether young people are spending so much time writing texts, short messages, rather than long-form paragraphs it's having an impact on their writing," he said.
Changing the tests would push teachers to enforce more off-screen learning in the classroom, ministers also hoped.
"Making sure the writing assessment is actually pen to paper will mean more classroom time being spent on pen and paper as opposed to on a computer," Ms Car said.
"There is a lot of evidence to suggest excessive screen time has been harmful for students and their educational outcomes."
The NSW government said its research found only about one-third of parents of primary-schoolers thought the benefits of using technology outweighed disadvantages.
The NAPLAN tests students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
The tests were fully digitised by 2022 except for year 3 writing exams and for students with special needs.
Virtual examinations were intended to improve the precision and speed of assessments.
August's writing scores were a particular concern in years 3 and 5. Less than 10 per cent of students exceeded national benchmarks.
Numeracy results improved for most cohorts since 2025, though the score for year 3 had decreased.
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