Headteachers are to be given a raft of new powers as part of wide-reaching reforms to Scotland's school system, Education Secretary John Swinney has announced.

They will become responsible for raising attainment and closing the gap between the poorest and richest pupils.

Headteachers will also have the power to choose staff and management structures, decide on the curriculum - within a broad national framework - and directly control "significantly" more funding.

The reforms, which follow a review of school governance, were unveiled at Holyrood on Thursday.

Mr Swinney told MSPs the changes would "put the power to directly change lives into the hands of those with the expertise and insight to target resources at the greatest need".

He also said parents would be given a stronger voice, with involvement in the running of schools.

But he rejected a bid by a group of parents at a Catholic primary school in Glasgow to remove the school from council control, adding that local authorities will retain a "vital role" in the education system.

Some of the reforms will be contained in an Education Governance Bill, to be introduced next year, while others can be implemented without legislation, Mr Swinney said.

"The evidence is clear that the strength and quality of leadership in our schools is crucial to delivering improvement," Mr Swinney said.

"We know that headteachers want to focus on delivery of learning and teaching, not be chief administrator of their school.

"We will, therefore, give headteachers more power over decisions on learning and teaching, freeing them to make a difference to the lives of children and young people."

Mr Swinney said he had already ruled out a "fixed national funding formula" to work out settlements for schools.

Instead, a consultation on "fair funding" has been launched to consider how to distribute cash.

Turning to parents, the Education Secretary promised "enhanced" parent councils, with parental involvement to be strengthened in legislation.

He said pupil participation would also be made "more effective and consistent".

However the Education Secretary said he could not agree to proposals to take closure-threatened St Joseph's Primary School in Milngavie out of local authority control, to run by the community.

"The reforms I am setting out today will significantly increase the autonomy of our schools, the role of parents in school life and ensure our schools are rooted in their communities," he said.

"Crucially, however, the reforms deliver this within a clear national and local framework of policy and support.

"I therefore cannot agree to pursue the specific proposals from parents at St Joseph's and elsewhere as they would remove schools from that crucial support structure."

The announcement of the governance review had raised questions about councils' role within education, with Mr Swinney confirming they will retain responsibility for "a wide range of education support services".

Local authorities will also be given new statutory duties, including to collaborate to support improvement across their regions, Mr Swinney said.

Collaboration will be promoted through new "regional improvement collaboratives", designed to allow schools to share best practice, he added.

Other measures contained in reforms include greater career development opportunities for teachers, new routes into the profession, and changes to teacher training courses.

Proposals to establish an Education Workforce Council for Scotland, bringing the General Teaching Council for Scotland together with other training bodies, have also been put forward.

"At the heart of our reforms is a simple plan," Mr Swinney said.

"We will free our teachers to teach. We will put new powers in the hands of our headteachers. We will ensure that parents, families and communities play a bigger role in school life and in their children's learning."

Conservative education spokesman Liz Smith welcomed greater devolution of power to teachers but said more radical reform is needed.

She said: "We do not believe these reforms go far enough, particularly when it comes to extending choice and allowing schools to opt out of local authority rule if that's what parents and teachers want."

The Conservatives pledged in their local government manifesto to allow opt-outs.

Ms Smith questioned why headteachers were not being given full autonomy over the Pupil Equity Fund and whether creating regional boards is counter to the Government's plans to devolve power to local communities.

Labour's Iain Gray said: "Consultation responses to the governance review from teachers, from parents, from educationalists and from councils all said the same thing - that the first reform we need is more teachers, properly paid, properly supported and properly resourced, why has [Mr Swinney's] statement nothing to say about that?

He praised Mr Swinney for dropping his "flirtation with opt-out schools" and asked him to explain how the regional bodies and directors and annual plans are not "just another layer of bureaucracy".

The Greens' Ross Greer said the review will not resolve the key issue in Scottish education, which is loss of staff.

Mr Swinney said the Government had taken steps to increase teacher numbers and the regional bodies, currently envisaged to be around six or seven, would provide specialist support for schools through a panel of education experts, not councillors.

He said he wants to strike a balance between autonomy and providing support for head teachers and wants guidelines to help this, not "restrictive instruments".

Mr Swinney added: "It's not about me controlling it, it's about me making sure that in every single part of the country, every school can rely on strong expertise to support the delivery of education. That's the point of the reform."