Conservatives claim some Scots schools are failing pupils from poorer backgrounds

Education Secretary Michael Russell accused Ms Smith and her party of "scaremongering" and "demonising the poor, schools and teachers".

Ms Smith, Conservative young people spokeswoman, told MSPs that despite a small improvement in attainment for the last two academic years, fewer than 20% of pupils from the most deprived areas were attaining five standard grade credit passes compared to 60% of those from more affluent backgrounds.

At Higher level one in ten pupils will attain at least three A grades, with only 2.9% of disadvantaged pupils attaining those marks compared to 20% of their better-off peers, she said.

The figures paint a "bleak picture" of "deep-rooted unfairness" that no political party could deny, she said.

Ms Smith added: "I think it is time to acknowledge that a few schools in Scotland, and a few departments within some schools, are failing to deliver the results they should be.

"The statistics over a long period of time show that we are not getting as good results for some of our children as we ought to be."

Ms Smith called for a rethink of the current "one size fits all" approach to include greater diversity, more say for parents and a renewed focus on improving basic literacy and numeracy.

She said: "The real problem in Scotland is that schools are accountable to local government and to national government, they are not as accountable as they should be to parents, to pupils and to teachers, and that's something that has to change.

"We have to accept that there is a significant problem for too many of our disadvantaged young people who are not getting the best opportunity to do well."

Mr Russell responded: "Alas, there is one area in education in which nothing changes and that is, I'm sorry to say, the relentless negativity of the Conservatives towards the tremendous work being done in our schools day in and day out.

"Rather than dragging down our education system, perhaps Liz Smith and her colleagues could do well to get out more into our schools and see exactly what was happening."

He accused the UK Government of "exacerbating" poverty, which was the "real enemy to progress" in narrowing the attainment gap.

"The Westminster Government is attacking the poor for being poor and that's nothing short of a disgrace.

"As it stands, welfare reforms at Westminster are going to make this worse.

"We can't fully mitigate against it but we'll do what we can to limit the worst impacts."

Mr Russell said Scotland's schools were moving in the right direction "against every main measure", with the new Curriculum for Excellence having "raised the bar" for attainment with a record number of Higher and Advance Higher results.

He said: "The fact is that Scotland's schools compare strongly when measured against international standards and the experience in our schools is, in the main, positive and improving.

"I don't think there is anywhere else in the UK, or indeed in Europe, that is prioritising educational attainment as much as we are."

Ms Smith said it was "outrageous" to suggest she was demonising schools, highlighting she was praising those that were doing well.

She added: "I absolutely refute any suggestion that the Conservatives are comfortable with poverty.

"We are not and this is why we are standing up and being brutally honest about this issue."

Labour MSP Neil Bibby said the Scottish education system was being "stretched" due to the new curriculum.

He said: "We all know teachers in Scotland are facing significant workload issues at this moment in time and surveys by teaching unions indicate the Government is failing to address those workload issues.

"Not only are teachers teaching new courses and preparing pupils for new exams, there are also far fewer teachers in our classrooms.

"How can we seriously reduce the attainment gap given these circumstances?"