7.This section is part of the improvement framework in the Act and places statutory duties on Scottish Ministers and education authorities in relation to the improvement in the quality of school education.
8.The duty imposed on the Scottish Ministers by section 3(1) covers both public provision of education by education authorities and provision by the independent sector.
9.The duties imposed on an education authority by section 3(2) extend only to schools managed by them. They do extend however to education provided outwith school by an authority in terms of section 14 of the 1980 Act (for children who are ill or excluded etc.) and also to provision of pre-school education under arrangements made by the education authority with other providers under section 35 (section 3(3)).
10.Section 3(4) provides that in relation to Scottish Ministers’ and authorities’ duties to endeavour to secure improvement in school education, what is being referred to is school education informed by the guiding philosophy of the development of the child to which it must now be directed under section 2 of the Act.