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.

Lochend high school head teacher on 'red buttons' in classrooms to summon help

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. 

The Scottish Government has long talked about closing the attainment gap but is so far failing to make a serious enough difference. By "closing the attainment gap" what is meant is that young people will have an equal opportunity, regardless of background, to earn Highers and go to university. 

What does success mean for young people? It's not Higher results

So it was unusual to hear a high school principal saying that gaining a wide variety of Highers might not matter as much as we pretend it does and that, ultimately, degree classification doesn't matter. 

Of course, for some degree subjects and then for some careers, Highers matter a great deal and degree classification can matter a great deal more. 
In certain industries this attitude is changing: EY, PwC and Grant Thornton, for example, have dropped any requirement of degree classes or school exam results from their application forms. But it's slow progress and for some pupils, missing out on a specific grade can turn their plans devastatingly upside down. 

Mr McArthur's position was not that his pupils deserve fewer chances than their peers is more well off schools but that his school needs to be realistic about what its young people can achieve, given all the other hurdles they face from early childhood, and how the school supports them to achieve it. 

The head teacher also described how some of his capable young people will go to college rather than university because they simply can't afford four years of university study. It's not just about having the fees paid but being able to justify the travel costs and the costs of textbooks.

We need to take a good, hard look at what schools are offering pupils

But the pupils who go to college first will still have the chance to head on to university at a later stage. Other schools, those focused more on positive leaver destinations for their young people and less on Higher results, actually encourage the "college first, uni later" route because the increased support at college level improves retention rates. 

It seems that schools doing well with positive leaver destinations are the schools that are nurturing their pupils most effectively; which are seeing teenagers as complete persons and tailoring eduction to what they need, rather than forcing the young person to fit a mould they will never comfortably fit. 

A focus in schools now is to ensure parity of esteem between post-school choices - making university no longer a prestige option. 

According to figures from UCAS, applications to Scottish universities have risen by 2% from pre-pandemic levels and it is predicted that, across the UK in the next two years, the number of university students will reach one million. 

Efforts to widen participation are working. Yet, conversely, university isn't for everyone. Some schools still push the agenda that the "best" next step is university. Those schools see pupils drop out of courses they have been pressured into applying for but aren't really suited to. Seeing university as the be all and end all is no good for those young people. 

Where does your school rank in The Herald's school performance league tables?

Parity of esteem is important but so too is parity of opportunity. The SNP has previously said that every child in Scotland, no matter their socio-economic background, will have an equal chance to go to university. 

Real parity in education will be reaching a point where every young person has an equal opportunity to attend university, regardless of background, and can confidently make an alternative choice that best suits their goals and skills.