Rob Spence

Just had an email from the RDN – Resource Discovery Network – a name which means what it says. It’s a network by which you can discover resources. That isn’t good enough, though. Oh, no. They are going to change the name. So here’s the reasoning behind it:The RDN has taken specialist advice and, with…

I’m currently dealing with a plagiarism case where a student has copied all of two pieces of work – and, rather cunningly, I thought, used books not easily available physically or as e-books, but ones which feature whole pages on Google book search and Amazon “Look inside”. The student can’t actually cut and paste, but…

According to BBC Sport, “Wayne Rooney has agreed a five-book deal that will earn him at least £5m from publishers Harper Collins” It’s a lot to ask of the lad, but I’m sure with Coleen’s help, he’ll manage to read those five books in time to collect the money. I think they should make sure…

I always disliked Mick Hucknall. Something to do with the hair and the support for that Stretford team, I expect. Now the Observer’s profile of him confirms that, as I suspected all along, I was right. He says things like “I am one of the best singer-songwriters this country has produced. Ever. If people don’t…

The Observer | Magazine | One family, one month, 50kg of packaging. Why? This article illustrates the problem I mentioned some time ago – and it’s a problem that won’t go away until we make the manufacturers do something about it. I like the idea, mentioned in the article, of a co-ordinated dumping of packaging…

Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | The exorbitant cost of PFI is now being cruelly exposed Allyson Pollock’s article doesn’t tell you much you didn’t already know, but it’s an impressively detailed demolition job on the government’s most shameless sell-out of a noble institution that was once the envy of the world.

BBC NEWS | Education | Students bemoan ‘unhip’ lecturers: I don’t whether to laugh or cry at this item. I was particularly struck by the magisterial sweeping generalisation of“They always look down on students, they always judge and have a lack of hygiene… most discussions in seminars revolve around the academic’s new book. In short,…

Today’s Grauniad contains a couple of advertisements that caught my interest. The first is for a Business manager in a small secondary school – salary: £50,000. Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and I was a proper teacher, schools didn’t have business managers. One of the deputies would do all the sums, control the stock…

The Observer has a new supplement, aimed at women. I feel excluded, and can’t see the logic of it. If I go to WH Smith, it’s pretty obvious what constituency is being targeted by magazines with titles such as Woman, She, Woman’s Own etc. Equally, you know what you are letting yourself in for if…

To Milton Keynes for a meeting at the Open University, on the early train from Preston. I didn’t have a reserved seat, so found the first available one, and sat down. Just before we left, a big commotion announces the arrival of a lady in one of those very high-tech wheelchairs, her companion, her two…