A university student who spent 21 years in care and now wants to reform the care system has spoken of the inspiration he took from one of his old schoolteachers.
In No Wrong Path, an online video published by the University of Glasgow, Jamie Dalgoutte - who moved between 15 different foster homes during his childhood - revisits some of the places where he grew up, reflecting on struggles in his life and people who helped him overcome them.
One of these stops is Greenwood Academy, in Ayr, where he meets Billy Brotherson, who was his S1 year head.
Mr Dalgoutte, 25, started secondary education after the death of his mother, and, looking back, said: “I wasn’t equipped with the skills to mourn or to process death.”
On his first day he got into a fist fight, and he found school very difficult. But from that first day, Mr Brotherson was looking out for him.
“He was a bit of a handful,” says Mr Brotherson in the video. “I think at that time some of the issues that Jamie was struggling with [were] coming out in his behaviour.”
He added: “But I always saw the guy - the real guy - behind the behaviour.”
Mr Dalgoutte said: “Billy made a personal commitment to build a connection with my foster carers at home, which spanned the whole time I was in education.”
Mr Dalgoutte is now studying for a BA in community development. He aims to use his degree to reform Scotland’s care system and improve the lives of other young people.
He highlights that only 7 per cent of children in care go straight to university, compared with 39 per cent of their peers.
However, improvement in school attendance has stalled and they are still much more likely to be excluded than other pupils, Scottish government figures show.
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