OVER years covering education I've spoken to many teachers and head teachers about the difficulties faced by young people in Scottish schools.
None have been quite as candid as David McArthur, the head teacher at Lochend Community High School in Glasgow's long infamous Easterhouse.
It's unfair and frustrating to label particular areas with reductive cliches such as "infamous". I grew up in Coatbridge and I live in Govanhill so, believe me, I know what it's like to be constantly fighting against stereotypes.
But Easterhouse has long had a gang culture and it has long had all the associated ills of high levels of deprivation. Things are on the up but that doesn't mean, for certain families, that everything's rosey. Far from it.
I think a majority of people have a general sense that they understand what it's like to live in straitened circumstances and that young people from complicated backgrounds are running to catch up educationally.
I don't, though, believe there is any meaningful insight into just how difficult it can be and what that reality is like. I say that because I've been a children's panel member for nearly 11 years now and I still come across situations detailed in social work reports that give me serious pause. I still speak to teachers who describe situations in schools that alarm and perturb.
So Mr McArthur's candour serves a valuable purpose in giving a frank look at the challenges faced in Scottish schools by our young people and their teachers.
