THREE quarters of pupils from the poorest backgrounds in Scotland should leave school with at least one Higher by 2025, the government has recommended.

The ambitious target is contained in a consultation on a raft of new measures to assess whether Scottish schools are closing the attainment gap between rich and poor.

Currently just 40 per cent of pupils from the most disadvantaged areas get one or more Highers compared to 81 per cent from the wealthiest.

Ministers want to “substantially eliminate” the gap between Scotland’s most and least deprived pupils within a decade.

In addition to exam targets they plan to use a range of measures to assess progress in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing for children aged between three and 18.

John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister and Education Secretary, said: “Closing the poverty-related attainment gap is a defining mission of this government and it is therefore essential we have a clear way of measuring progress.

“I do not believe it is sensible or realistic to assess the performance of our system using a single measure, which is why we already use a number of indicators to monitor progress.

“This consultation goes further and brings together the most relevant measures, such as early years development and literacy and numeracy, as well as proposing key milestones on the journey towards closing the gap.”

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland teaching union welcomed the move.

He said: “We fully support the drive to reduce the impact of poverty on pupils’ learning and will play an active part in discussions during this consultation process.

“It is important that the scale and complexity of the issues are recognised, and that teachers, employers and government agencies can work constructively and in partnership to tackle the negative impact of poverty on young people across Scotland.”

However, political opponents argued it was far too late for the government to be trying to establish how to measure progress.

Liz Smith, education spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: “John Swinney’s problem here is the fact that the relevant database with which it would have been possible to measure recent progress in narrowing the attainment gap was never collected.

“It is also the case that ministers removed Scotland from some key international measures which assist with attainment analysis so the Scottish Government is a bit stuck.

“The SNP urgently needs an agreed set of criteria which can be used from now on but, as yet, we have no sign of any details.”

Iain Gray, education spokesman for the Scottish Labour Party, said: “It has been two years since the SNP said that closing the attainment gap was their defining mission and it’s only now that they are consulting.

“If it really was such a priority we would have expected action sooner than this.”

Tavish Scott, education spokesman for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said ministers were moving too slowly with an announcement on how it they will measure the attainment gap not due until December.

He said: “The SNP must be embarrassed at this glacial progress on one of its key priorities.

“Two years after the First Minister made a keynote speech claiming closing the attainment gap between the most and least deprived students was her top priority, the government still doesn’t know how to measure the size of this chasm.”

Other targets which have been suggested as part of the consultation include increasing the percentage of pupils from the poorest backgrounds who achieve one or more passes at National 5 from 75 per cent to 90 per cent.

The Scottish Government also wants to see significant improvements in the proportion of disadvantaged pupils achieving the expected levels in literacy and numeracy.

For the youngest children targets are focused on the number of concerns that are picked up at their 27-30 month child health review.

For older age groups measures will focus on the percentage going to education, training or employment when they leave school.

The eight key measures will be supported by 17 sub measures which focus on more detailed issues such as mental wellbeing and attendance and exclusion rates. The consultation closes on November 20.