On my first full day as Education Secretary I was fortunate enough to visit my old school – Forrester High – in Edinburgh. The buildings in which I was taught are gone, replaced by a bright new campus, but it was evident that the encouraging ethos I experienced there persists to this day.

The pupils and staff were all hugely positive and enthusiastic and I have no doubt they will go on to fulfill their potential. But too many of Scotland’s pupils are falling behind in attainment and, tragically, this has more to do with where somebody was born and brought up and not their ability to learn.

That is why raising standards for all and closing the gap in attainment between young people from our most and least deprived communities will be the defining mission of this government.

We must ensure that every child, no matter their background, has the same chance in life. My driving mission will be to achieve excellence and equity in Scotland’s schools.

I am still just weeks into my tenure as Education Secretary. There is no doubt I am on a learning curve, but everything I have seen in that short period convinces me that we are embarking on this mission with some strong foundations. We are not setting out from a standing start.

Like Forrester, the schools I have visited are all staffed by outstanding teachers, and the pupils I have met are engaged and have a real desire to learn.

My reflections echo the findings of the OECD, which carried out a report of Scottish education in 2015 that found: ‘Learners are enthusiastic and motivated, teachers are engaged and professional and system leaders are highly committed’.

But despite our strong foundations, it is clear we have not made enough progress on closing the attainment gap and we have work to do to ensure our young people have the knowledge and teachers have the skills to drive up standards across Scotland.

That work is underway. Earlier this year, the First Minister published the National Improvement Framework that will give detailed information to teachers and parents on every child to show what is working and what needs attention.

As part of the Framework we will introduce new standardised assessments – for the avoidance of doubt, these will be taken by every pupil, apart from in the most exceptional of circumstances – and they will be marked by a computer system so as to not add to teacher workload.

We have launched the Attainment Challenge, which targets resources at the children, schools and communities that most need them and our manifesto contained a commitment to allocating £750 million during the course of this parliament to this programme through the Attainment Scotland Fund.

As part of this, we will allocate the additional £100 million that will be raised each year as a result of our council tax reforms directly to schools.

This week, the First Minister and I will convene a major education summit that will bring together, teachers, pupils, local authorities, education experts, political leaders and others to identify how we can make faster progress.

The summit will explore how we empower teachers and other school staff to use their professional expertise and deliver the excellent education we know they can. It will also – crucially – examine how we can harness the support of the community that exists around all of our schools to come together in a common focus to drive up standards.

The discussions will inform our delivery plan for improving performance across Scotland. That will be published before the end of the school term and set out a series of actions we will take to close the attainment gap.

The National Improvement Framework, Attainment Challenge and education summit all demonstrate clearly that the Scottish Government will seek out and listen to new ideas and innovative approaches to deliver results.

One thing that is already clear to me after just three weeks is that we have an urgent task before us to liberate teachers from unnecessary workload.

This is sometimes linked to well-meaning but ultimately unhelpful local bureaucracy, and sometimes it comes at the hand of national agencies. Whatever the origin, we must clear away the undergrowth of unnecessary workload, freeing teachers to focus on their true purpose – lifting the life chances of every child in Scotland’s schools.

That is my mission and it is one I want to take forward shoulder to shoulder with our teachers. I want to hear what helps and what hinders them in their task. I need to hear where the barriers are.

My commitment to them and to every parent is that where we identify these barriers, I will clear them away. This government will free teachers to teach and to focus on raising standards and closing the attainment gap.

My first three weeks in post have been hugely rewarding and enlightening. There can be no bigger privilege than to have been asked by the First Minister to deliver a world class education for the young people of Scotland.

I am in no doubt that improving the educational outcomes of children and young people living in areas of deprivation will be extremely challenging. I am absolutely determined to repay the faith shown in me as the new Education Secretary and deliver the excellence and equity that all of Scotland’s young people deserve.