The SNP’s ability to close the poverty-related attainment gap has been called into question amid evidence that it has widened at scores of schools.
Fresh analysis of government data by the Scottish Conservatives reveals that the gulf in academic performance between the most deprived and most affluent students increased at more than 70 secondary schools last year.
In 105 of 216 secondary schools (48%), the poorest pupils fared worse in 2017-18 — when more than £100m was handed to head teachers to boost attainment — than the previous year.
This weekend, opposition politicians said the findings raised “serious doubts” over the SNP’s approach to closing the attainment gap and blamed slow progress on Nicola Sturgeon’s “obsession” with independence. Ministers have admitted that closing the gap