Hardcopy second-hand textbooks are important - they lower the cost of student resources for families.
A hardcopy textbook can be bought and sold a number of times second-hand;
Textbook editions are valid for approximately 4-6 years before being updated to a new edition;
Some textbook editions have not changed for more than 6-8 years.
A second-hand textbook purchased will be approximately 50% of the new price;
In 12 months time, that same textbook can be sold for approximately 50% of the new price;
This means the overall cost of textbooks for the coming year can be close to $0.00;
In any given year approximately 20% of the required texts will be updated to a new edition.
Digital textbooks require the purchase of an iPad/Chromebook or other device, costs $300 to $3,000.
Digital textbooks require families to purchase a new digital textbook every year, as most are single year (or less than 2 year) licences and cannot be bought or sold second-hand. Large fines apply.
Annual digital textbook purchases per student can be $200 or more.
Hardcopy texts with digital licences/reactivation licences vary across the publishers and have changed across time, there’s been:
12 Month digital licences;
16 Month digital licences;
22 Month digital licences;
Reactivation of digital licences of various timeframes
Additionally, while the hardcopy text will be the same edition from year to year, the digital component that is attached to that specific hard copy text edition can be changed by the publisher each year. Any change to this digital component in these circumstances often results in parent’s simply buying a new text with new digital component for the coming year and bypassing the second-hand market, even though the hard copy text itself has not changed.
Many studies have been done on student learning outcomes after 15 years of digital books.
In 2026, the Victorian, New South Wales and Western Australian Governments have all announced measures to reduce or remove digital devices from schools in an effort to halt and turn around falling literacy and numeracy standards. Other countries have made similar announcements.
Links to a few study outcomes:
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