'Shambolic' Curriculum for Excellence slammed by MSP

EDINBURGH West Liberal Democrat MSP Margaret Smith has branded the SNP government's handling of the introduction of the new school curriculum as "shambolic".

The Curriculum for Excellence, which comes into force in Scotland's secondary schools as pupils return to classes today, is designed to give teachers more freedom and make lessons less prescriptive.

But Ms Smith, who is Lib Dem education spokeswoman at Holyrood, said there was still no criteria for the new national exams replacing Standard Grades.

She said: "Teachers have to start teaching the new curriculum, but with no idea about the exams that they should be preparing children for.

"With the threat of strikes looming, there is no sense that the SNP has an overarching strategy to give parents any confidence that they are going to find a way out of this mess. Scotland's children deserve better."