THE Scottish Government has launched a consultation on proposals to measure the attainment gap in education.

Ministers want to “substantially eliminate” the gap between Scotland’s most and least deprived pupils within a decade. They plan to use a range of key measures to assess progress in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing for children and young people aged between three and 18.

Education Secretary John Swinney 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. I urge everyone with an interest to submit their view.”