all about tests, all about the mechanics of passing regular assessments, but i wonder if there's something else going on, too, which isn'tjust about schools and teaching butjust the way in which we live our lives? we see two and three—year—olds now who have become used to swiping with their fingers on screens. we see primary school kids who have smart phones. could that be something to do with the fact children aren't engaging with books, perhaps, in the way that they used to? it could be. actually, the description you've just given, i've seen toddlers in their buggies with phones and looking at things in one sort or another. there's a very strange thing going on, culturally speaking, which is that we're giving children a level of autonomy, we could argue how much it is but even so, handing them things like screens and playing with them and so on, at the very same moment that classrooms are in a sense being asked, whether they do it or not is another matter, but being asked to close down and be much more going back