COUNCILS will be required by law to narrow the attainment gap between Scotland's wealthiest and poorest pupils as part of new legislation proposed by the Scottish Government.
The Education (Scotland) Bill will also introduce a requirement for local authorities and ministers to report on progress in reducing educational inequality.
Launching the Bill, Education Secretary Angela Constance said the proposals underlined the government's determination to give every child the best chance to succeed in life.
The Bill also includes provisions to promote Gaelic education, ensure all teachers working in independent schools are registered with the General Teaching Council Scotland, improve the process for dealing with complaints about councils and schools and create a chief education officer post in local authorities.
Ms Constance said: "Tackling educational inequality is at the heart of this Government's work and our Bill underlines our expectations of local councils in the process of addressing educational inequality.
"Specifically, the Bill will place a statutory duty on councils to narrow the attainment gap and introduce a new requirement for councils and ministers to report on progress in achieving that.
"I look forward to the parliamentary process where we can seek consensus on these provisions and the other measures that are being introduced in the Bill."
John Fyffe, president of the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, said: "The action being taken by the Scottish Government to address the disparity in outcomes faced by pupils from disadvantaged communities is positive, as is their commitment to ensuring that each and every local authority has a chief education officer.
"That officer will play a key role, ensuring that our approach to the delivery of education is built on a clear understanding of what works. We look forward to working with ministers and Parliament as the Bill is progressed."
Ms Constance also announced an additional £1 million for councils to purchase textbooks and other resources. Schools and councils can begin to spend this money immediately if they choose to do so.
"This money can be used by councils to help with the purchase of textbooks and other resources for the new Highers and meet other local priorities for Curriculum for Excellence (CfE)," she said.
Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS teaching union, said: "The introduction of CfE has inevitably brought some financial implications for schools, so it is very welcome that the Scottish Government has listened to teachers' concerns in making this additional investment which will allow school resources such as textbooks to be updated."
However, Douglas Chapman, education spokesman for council umbrella body Cosla, questioned whether some of the measures required legislation.
He said: "There are elements of the Bill that are positive and there are some necessary fixes to other legislation, but we have to ask whether other elements of the Bill require legislative support.
"In the case of attainment and closing the gap between our best performing children and those who we know can do better, local authorities are just as committed to improving attainment as the Scottish Government.
"The moral, economic and social case for closing the attainment gap has already been won, even if practically there is still a massive job to do. The question is whether legislation will help us making progress in this vital task."
Cosla also said it had issues with the practicality of delivering more Gaelic medium education at a time when many councils still find it difficult to recruit qualified teachers.
Mr Chapman added: "We will also question the need for a chief education official when councils already employ extremely dedicated and well qualified senior education staff. However, our evidence will be constructive and we will focus on ensuring that quality legislation is passed by Parliament."
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