PRESSURE was last night growing on the Scottish Government after a leading education figure joined mounting criticism of the new curriculum due in schools next year.
Critics warned education secretary Fiona Hyslop that the Curriculum for Excellence was in "disarray" and demanded action before more children ended up struggling to read and write.
Keir Bloomer, a member of the team that created the Curriculum for
Excellence, described it as "not good enough". The former council leader and director of education was particularly critical of the literacy element, calling it "complete nonsense".
Although he stressed he was still supportive of the system as "the only game in town", he said it would have too little impact on the way teachers worked.
The document described literacy as "the set of skills which allows an individual to engage fully in society and in learning, through the different forms of language, and the range of texts, which society values and finds useful". He said: "No it's not. It's about how to read and write. This sort of crap does not take us any further forward."
Teachers have previously warned they will ballot on industrial action unless the government gives "explicit guidance" and pumps more cash into the new curriculum.
Members of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association (SSTA), at their annual conference in Peebles in May, also demanded that the introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence be delayed until books and coursework are created.
The new system has already been delayed by a year, until 2010, after fears from the profession that there was not enough time to implement it properly.
Scotland's biggest teaching union, the EIS, also warned, at its annual conference last month, that more investment, both financial and of time, was needed.
Conservative schools spokeswoman Liz Smith backed the former teacher's remarks.
She said: "Keir Bloomer is only echoing what every parent and teacher in Scotland already knows, namely that Alex Salmond's SNP has failed to deliver when it comes to improving basic standards in our schools.
"We have been warning for some time that teachers are not being given clear direction as to how to carry out the core aims of the curriculum. The entire structure behind implementing the curriculum is in disarray."
She demanded more rigorous testing of the "three Rs" and warned that the Scottish Government must act "before it is too late".
Some headteachers at Scotland's prestigious independent schools have warned that they will not introduce the Curriculum for Excellence until it is ready.
Critics have claimed it is too "woolly" and vague and said parents will feel their children are being used as guinea pigs.
However, state school heads will have little choice in whether to adopt the system or not.
Rhona Brankin, Labour education spokeswoman, described the literacy section of the curriculum as "complete gobbledegook".
Labour is so concerned about the inability of school-leavers to read and write sufficiently well that it has set up its own literacy commission to investigate the issue.
Ms Brankin said: "It is a scandal that a fifth of pupils leave school without being able to read properly. This government has underfunded the curriculum changes and a lack of leadership from the education minister is clearly denting confidence in the reforms."
Teachers have also balked at plans to introduce literacy and numeracy tests for all pupils to take in third or fourth year, before they leave secondary school.
They say that is too late to help correct any problems youngsters have with such key skills.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government described the new curriculum as the "biggest reform of our education system in a generation", and said Scotland already performed well on the world education stage.
He said the new system would give teachers the opportunity to reflect modern society in the classroom.
"Education will be provided suited to the needs of individual pupils in a modern world, with teachers provided with the freedom to develop quality teaching and learning approaches within their own schools," he added.
"Keir Bloomer is an important educational thinker, and we will always listen with interest to his views," he said. "However, the new curriculum has been developed in partnership with teachers who are currently working in the classroom and who will be responsible for delivering these reforms for the benefit of Scotland's children."
Guidance on literacy in the new curriculum suggests teachers use modern ways of communicating, such as text messaging, e-mails and social networking websites to help children become literate in the 21st century.
Read Keir Bloomer's analysis hereJOINED UP THINKINGCURRICULUM for Excellence is the new school curriculum brought in to replace the previous system know as the 5-14 Guidance.
Its aims are summarised in the "four capacities" it hopes pupils will achieve: successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.
It covers a wider range of ages, from 3-18, in a bid to co-ordinate learning better from nursery right through to final exams.
The new system is intended to be a more joined-up system with teachers working together across subjects.
For example it could mean if pupils are studying Ancient Egypt in history, they could use the pyramids to study angles in maths.
