GREENOCK High School can boast a number of famous former pupils - the actor Richard Wilson, authors Iain Banks and Bill Bryden, Newcastle United chief executive Freddy Fletcher, and last but not least, the new Scottish Education Minister, Sam Galbraith.

By all accounts, he was a quiet, studious pupil when he attended the school from 1956-63 at its previous site in the town which now houses Notre Dame High School.

Yesterday, however, as Mr Galbraith made his return to Greenock High his first public engagement as Education Minister, he allowed himself to take a trip down memory lane.

He recalled one teacher, whom he described as ''an atrocious English teacher'', but who nevertheless impressed upon him the need, even for scientists, to have a good grasp of the English language; he paid tribute to another music teacher who sowed the seeds of a love of music by carrying into the class an old record player and playing Bizet's opera Carmen; and he gave credit to a P.E. teacher, Alistair Paterson, who instilled in him the fact that sport was for participation and fun, and was not about winning, even if the school football team did win quite regularly.

But the Minister also recalled how, after his schooldays were over, he was one of the very few working-class boys from Greenock who was able to go on to higher education. As he took the bus from Greenock up to university in Glasgow, he would look out at his former classmates going off to the shipyards.

''All my mates - and they were clever guys - were going off to the yards as my brother did. That was unfair. They all had to leave school at 15. I was always determined that would change and that is why access for me is the most important thing.

''I got where I am today because of education, I had good parents who wanted me to be educated, and I was supported, but we came from a council house up the road,'' he said.

In those days, only 1% or 2% of university students came from working-class homes, and the vast majority came from private schools, he said.

The Minister spent most of his visit in ''listening mode'' speaking to teachers and pupils.

Of teachers, he said: ''The first things teachers tell me is to stop bashing them. The other good thing is that they are clearly committed and they are pleased with their job. They want to teach and they are in it for the right reasons.

''If that is the basis, then we can move forward. I am here to work in partnership with them and to deliver for everyone.''

Mr Galbraith avoided any comment on charges that his predecessor, Mrs Helen Liddell, had been seen as confrontational in her dealings with teachers.

''I am not here to engage in any unnecessary confrontation. I want to enhance their professional status and get us all working together to deliver for the kids,'' said the Minister, whose father was a teacher of technical subjects at Greenock High.

Of pupils, he said: ''They actually enjoy school and I can't say that was necessarily the case for everyone when I was at school. I am impressed by their friendliness and their mixture of informality and discipline. They are keen to enhance their school and develop themselves. They don't see it so much as a chore. School is part of life more than it used to be.''