The so-called "new community schools" will integrate education, social work and health services.

Every pupil will have a personal learning plan, with targets for attainment agreed with parents.

Schools will also be expected to involve the local community by offering services such as family support, informal education, homework clubs and childcare.

Deprived areas are being targeted first: ultimately ministers want to extend the concept to every school in Scotland.

Implications

The Scottish Office has chosen five schools which already embody some of these principles to be used as pathfinders.

They are Peterhead Academy, Baldragon Academy in Dundee, Lochend secondary school in Glasgow, Burnfoot primary in Hawick, and Braidfield High School in Clydebank.

Donald Dewar: "Giving the UK a lead"

Launching the plan in Hawick, Mr Dewar said it formed part of the Government's vision to ensure Scotland had a world-class education system.

"We are leading the way in the UK in taking this radical step, but international evidence particularly from the US confirms the impact of this approach," he said.

The plans herald potentially the most radical change in Scottish schooling since comprehensive education three decades ago.

The prospectus - due to be launched on Tuesday - has far-reaching implications for existing teaching methods and the current curriculum.

The pilot scheme calls for each local council to bid to host at least two new community schools.

There will be £26m in Scottish Office funding over the next three years, by which time there could be more than 70 such schools.