SCOTLAND'S new Education Secretary has pledged to listen to the views of those working in nurseries, schools, colleges and universities as she faces the "many challenges" that lie ahead.

On her first day in the post, Angela Constance said experience had taught her that little could be achieved by trying to push through policy without proper discussion.

Ms Constance's comments came as she visited a nursery in Edinburgh to confirm Government spending of almost a third of a billion pounds over the next two years to expand childcare.

She was unveiled as the new Education Secretary last week after Michael Russell lost the job in a reshuffle by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Speaking to The Herald she said: "One of the things I have had to learn within the youth employment brief is to be both quite tough, in what was a very politically sensitive brief, but also you that have to work with other people.

"I have learnt to know my own mind, but I have also learnt how to work with other people. There is little you can achieve in isolation and you have to be prepared to listen and work with others."

Ms Constance is taking over at a time when public finances are facing an unprecedented squeeze and councils are proposing direct cuts to their education budgets which will impact on teacher numbers and courses.

The new minister said she was aware of these challenges, but stressed the importance of her passion for education and her experience both as a social worker, a mother and a Government minister working with young people.

"I am under no illusions that there will be many challenges ahead to deliver the priorities of the Government, but I come from a skills brief, from an economic brief and I have always had a passion for young people," she said.

"I started my career as a social worker in the front line and for many years I was a local government councillor and sat on the education committee so I have always had a passion for education.

"I am also a mother with a son who is now in the third year of primary school so I feel that I am still living on the front line in that sense with the demands of being a working mother. Because of that I am always interested in how policy impacts on children and families."

Ms Constance said a particular focus for her was the importance of intervention in the early years of a child's life and the impact that could have in later life.

Ms Constance was born in Blackburn, West Lothian, and raised in Addiewell and West Calder. While studying at Glasgow

University she was elected president of the Students' Representative Council.

Before her election to Holyrood, Ms Constance worked as a social worker and was a councillor for West Lothian Council where she was the SNP spokesperson for children services and lifelong learning.

Earlier this year, she was promoted to the Scottish Cabinet in the position of Cabinet Secretary for Training, Youth and Women's Employment.