The education secretary's diagnosis of Britain's schools starts from the idea that written, pen-and-paper learning is holding a generation back, and that the answer is to bring the classroom closer into line with a screen-based working world.

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Whilst this makes a compelling media story to grab attention in the dog days of summer, it flies in the face of the vast majority of academic and social research.

The weakest part of her argument is the one she opens with. She points to a million young people outside education, employment and training and presents them as the product of an exam system built on pen and paper. That is not what the evidence shows. This is the first cohort to have grown up with a smartphone in their hand from primary school onwards, and the rise in youth inactivity has been driven overwhelmingly by ill health, particularly mental ill health, not to mention myopia or spinal issues, alongside a level of school absence........

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