AS with building new schools and ending student poverty, the promise of slashing class sizes was a key message from Fiona Hyslop and her SNP colleagues during their battle for power at Holyrood two years ago.
But promises, like rules, are often broken and, two years down the line, the SNP is facing constant allegations of broken or watered-down promises.
The issue of class sizes – a foundation of the SNP's manifesto – has become one of the most cont
entious.
Local authorities across the country have been left scratching their heads as the burden of implementing class size cuts in the first three years of school to 18 has fallen upon them.
They are being told by the Scottish Government to work towards reducing the number of pupils in P1-3 classes, but councils say this demand is not being followed with enough cash.
In Edinburgh alone, education bosses say it would cost £7.45 million just to employ the extra teachers needed, on top of the £16m needed to address the accommodation issues.
It is nowhere near bringing the government's dream to fruition, with just 11.6 per cent of its P1-3 pupils in classes with 18 or less, although it says it is still working to reduce class sizes, particularly in deprived areas.
That's more than can be said for East Renfrewshire Council, which has fuelled the wrangle by announcing it will not be letting national politics "interfere" with the way it runs its schools.
With the highest exam success rates in Scotland, it says it will not be reducing class sizes to 18 because not only can it not afford to, but it doesn't actually need to, either academically or legally.
The authority's refusal to play by the SNP's rules has opened up a major can of worms, and the Scottish Government is now being forced consider new legislation.
Currently, the legal maximum is 30 across the board, but the former Scottish Executive issued "guidance" in 2007 that P1 classes should be 25, which most councils have worked to achieve.
But East Renfrewshire's pledge to continue working with classes of 30 until legally forced otherwise is likely to encourage swathes of appeals from parents whose children are refused places in their non-catchment schools because councils say classes are full at 25.
Education leader Marilyne MacLaren is now seeking advice from the Scottish Government over the legal position in a bid to avoid a backlash.
She said: "There is a lack of clarity about this issue now and what we need from central government is some kind of guidance protocol.
"The ways things stand could mean that children who have successfully appealed then take precedence over children who may have siblings at that school as they leap-frog any waiting list."
She added: "We have given a commitment to the Cabinet Secretary that we would continue to look at reducing class sizes, especially in deprived areas.
"The other thing that we are looking at is the ratio of staff to children."
East Renfrewshire's refusal to play ball has also kick-started the debate on the merits of small classes.
Not everyone believes larger classes are a bad thing for young children, if the pupil-teacher ratio is sufficient.
Tina Woolnough, chair of Parents in Partnership, believes team-teaching – where there is more than one teacher in a larger class – is the best option.
She said: "It's the child-to-adult ratio that's the important thing. In a school where we have a class of 30 and one and a half teachers, that's the best scenario."
Teacher Alistair Pugh, who is the upper school manager at the Rudolf Steiner School, believes bigger class sizes can benefit children at that young age.
He said: "There is obviously a limit on how big a class should be if you're going to have effective learning, but a largish group provides children with lots of social opportunities.
"For children of that age, the social aspect is so important, so a class which has a few more pupils can have added vibrancy. It makes teamwork better because they can learn from each other."
Across Scotland, most councils are actively working towards class size reduction, even if they do not have any hope of reaching the 18 target without significant investment from Holyrood.
The Scottish Government says class sizes have dropped to an "all-time low" of 23.2.
In East Lothian, the percentage of P1-P3 pupils in classes of 18 or less last year was 6.3, while Midlothian and West Lothian fared better at 12.9 per cent and 24.8 per cent respectively.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We are committed to continue achieving year-on-year progress in reducing class sizes in primaries 1-3.
"To help achieve this we are providing local authorities with record levels of funding – £23 billion from 2008-10.
"We need to ensure that legislation enables local and national government to set class size limits and supports the rights of parents to make placing requests and we are currently considering whether current legislation needs to be changed across the country."
