You can't fool the inspector!
A cautionary tale
An event which always amuses me is something that occurred when I was an ICT (Information & Communications Technology) advisor in a London borough. We, the ICT advisory service, received notice that we were going to be inspected — and by none other than the chief ICT inspector at the time, Gabriel Goldstein. Gabriel was incisive, strict, frighteningly sharp — and loved by everyone in the UK’s scene. My boss (let’s call him Phil) organised the day of the inspection, and lined up loads of samples and statistics from schools across the borough. But there was one school that really hadn’t responded to any of our cajoling, training, funding or anything. They had achieved almost nothing in the realm of ICT. Let’s call this school Gasworks Lane Primary.
On the day of the inspection, Phil said “OK, we’re all set. For God’s sake don’t mention Gasworks Lane, and let’s hope he doesn’t notice that their paperwork is missing.”
Gabriel turned up, offered him tea, we chatted to him and put him in a nice comfortable room with all the samples of children’s work from across the borough, and tables of stats. He sat down, didn’t look at any of it, and said, to Phil “So tell me about Gasworks Lane.”