Not long after she became First Minister I interviewed Nicola Sturgeon on the subject of education. I asked her about the attainment gap, the startling difference in performance between young people from poor and better off backgrounds.

She told me that she would eradicate what we now call the poverty-related attainment gap. Not narrow it, but close it. It was a ‘bold’ promise, but I had no doubt it came from the heart. Here was a woman from a working class background who through good schooling, graft and intelligence became the first in her family to go to University.

If she could do it, why were too many young girls - and boys - from backgrounds like hers not fulfilling their potential?

The then First Minister came to the logical conclusion her government first needed better information on pupils' performance. She brought in ‘standardised tests’, the same across Scotland, to compare pupils in different schools at the same stage in their education, identify failings and do something about them.

And that was where it started to get difficult. These tests were claimed to be a further increase in pressure on the primary school pupils who would take them. It was nonsense.

My former colleagues at ITV Border filmed in a school and found happy, relaxed children, taking ‘tests’ they barely noticed were tests, which the Head concerned said helped her understand more about her pupils.

Nonetheless, given the opposition, the nationwide tests were diluted to the point that their original intention was almost lost.

It got worse. Mr Sturgeon and her then education secretary, John Swinney concluded pupils would benefit if head teachers were given more power, including effectively to hire and fire classroom staff.

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