NICOLA Sturgeon will today attempt to fend off Labour attacks over her party's record on education, as the issue emerges as the early battleground of next year's Holyrood election.

The First Minister will give a speech at Wester Hailes Education Centre in Edinburgh, a high school in one of the most deprived parts of Scotland, and signal her intention to adopt a "fresh approach" to driving up classroom standards.

In what will be seen as a hint that she will not be constrained by dogma she is expected to say "what matters is what works" and give further details of how a £100 million fund to improve achievement among children from poorer backgrounds will be spent.

It comes after new Scottish Labour chief Kezia Dugdale, who won the party contest convincingly on Saturday, made addressing an attainment gap a key message of her leadership campaign. Yesterday, in one of the first events since winning the top job, the Lothians MSP visited a nursery in Paisley and said her priority would be to champion young people as she launched a fresh attack on the SNP's record.

Ms Sturgeon will today pay tribute to Scottish education, saying the country's schools are a "success story", but will also pledge to show leadership in ensuring every child has the chance to succeed.

She is expected to say: "My priority for my time as First Minister, is that every young person should have the same advantage that I did when I was growing up in Ayrshire. They should know that if they have the talent and work hard enough, they will be able to fulfil their potential.

"That’s a challenge for schools, for local government, indeed for society as a whole – and it’s one on which my government is determined to show leadership.

"Because by succeeding, we’ll secure a fairer and more prosperous future – not just for the boys and girls starting school today – but for all young people and for Scotland as a whole."

The SNP leader has chosen to focus on education in the first of a series of speeches that the SNP hope will set the party on an election footing for next year's Holyrood vote. It is expected that further announcements on education will be made by Ms Sturgeon next month, when she sets out the programme for government in the remaining months of her party's second term in office.

Meanwhile, Ms Dugdale said that the Scottish Government's performance on education had "not been good enough." She added: "Those in government - both the Tories at Westminster and the SNP in Edinburgh - haven't taken the bold action needed to close the gap between rich and poor.

"For as long as there remains a single child in poverty we can never be satisfied as a nation that we are doing enough. Everybody in Scottish politics must get their priorities in order and put our young people first."

Scottish Labour former party leader and education spokesman Iain Gray said that the First Minister's "warm words" had not been backed up by meaningful action.

The party has pointed to the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy, which reveals substantial gaps in attainment between those from the richest and poorest backgrounds.

Mr Gray said: "After eight years of SNP Government the reality is that pupils from richer backgrounds still perform much better than those from deprived areas. It's just not right that three quarters of S2 pupils from the poorest backgrounds don't have the counting skills they need.

"A child starting high school this week will have spent every year of their education under the SNP Government. Instead of yet another speech from the First Minister, it's time the SNP Government actually did something to close the gap between rich and poor in Scotland's schools."

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesman Liam McArthur said: "This is a sop to the Tories which will only heap more work on the plates of teachers.

"It will impose an undue amount of stress on the young people we should be encouraging to enjoy learning.

"It seems that the SNP is now preparing the ground for school league tables. This is a backwards approach Scotland has long rejected and will do little to help close the attainment gap."

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS teaching union, said: "The EIS will be happy to engage in discussions regarding the best use of assessment data within the national improvement framework.

"However, we need to be cautious over placing too much emphasis on any single measure of performance - teachers use a range of assessment approaches to support their professional judgement, ensuring that assessment supports learning in the classroom."