Education centre to tackle gap between rich and poor

ATTEMPTS to close the attainment gap between children from the poorest and most affluent homes are to be made by a new centre being launched by the education secretary.

Mike Russell will open the Robert Owen Centre tonight. Picture: Ian Rutherford

The Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change will be formally unveiled by Mike Russell tonight during a speech at Glasgow ­University.

The centre, to be based at the university, will work with academics and policy makers around the world to address the gap between the poor and richer children from early years of primary school.

Professor Christopher Chapman, director of the new centre which he said would start work straight away, said: “This is a significant milestone not just in terms of Scotland, but it should be seen as a major step forward in ­international thinking and best ­practice.”