11.The “national priorities” to be identified under section 4 are areas where improvement is desirable. Examples might be improvement in literacy, numeracy, mathematics, teaching, reduction in truancy or exclusions. They might also set a target for a particular percentage of improvement across the country.
12.Scottish Ministers will define by order what the priorities for education should be following consultation. The priorities will be subject to the approval of Parliament. In addition to imposing a duty on the Scottish Ministers to set “national priorities” this section gives them a discretion to define and publish “measures of performance” in respect of the priority. These “measures of performance” are prescribed methods of measuring what progress is being made across the country. They are set centrally so that improvement is measured on a uniform basis across the country.
The Act Raising Standards Section 4 – National priorities in education