DOUGLAS OSLER, the head of the Inspectorate, is the first to admit he is not perfect. Indeed, as he told an audience at Kilmarnock’s Rugby Park last week, a performance indicator applied to his sense of direction would have rated “unsatisfactory” on the famous HMI four-point scale.
Osler’s tour of the town took him to a rugby park all right but to the home of Kilmarnock’s rugby club. An absence of parked cars and a delivery of beer told him immediately he was not in the right place. The day was saved by East Ayrshire’s education department director John Mulgrew’s secretary guided him to his destination by mobile phone.
Mulgrew himself paid a suitably warm tribute to his secretary but seemed a little worried lest Osler got lost again. Since “It’s not a good idea to have Her Majesty’s Inspector of Schools hanging about the authority for too long”.
