The Department for Education has put out a call for evidence behaviour management in schools, including the use of mobile phones. Why? The Education Secretary seems determined to ban them anyway.

But apart from that, what’s it got to do with the DfE anyway? As a SchoolsWeek article says, the use of mobile phones should be up to individual schools (and academy trusts), not something that is micromanaged from Sanctuary Buildings .

(That’s the home of the DfE and what looks like a replica of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The first time I went there and saw what a calm tropical paradise it was, I finally understood why so many policies emanating from the DfE are so lacking in understanding of what goes on in schools and what challenges teachers face.)

What next? Government guidance on seating plans in schools? Approved textbooks and other resources (which has pretty much already happened).

I could get into why mobile phones can be a really excellent tool, but that would be to accept the premise that such matters are the business of the DfE. I don’t believe it is, so the only appropriate response to the Education Secretary and his cronies is (and I apologise for not being as polite as I usually try to be): MYOB, ie mind your own business.