THE introduction of Scotland's new school curriculum has been marred by "profound weaknesses", Scotland's national academy of science and letters has warned.

The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) made the claim ahead of a major international review of the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) reforms, which begins next week.

Education experts from the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are due to arrive in Scotland to evaluate the implementation and impact of CfE after being invited to do so by the Scottish Government.

In a letter to the OECD team, the RSE states: "We would be pleased to discuss what we regard as profound weaknesses in the strategic thinking and action associated with the implementation of CfE."

The warning comes as the spotlight continues to focus on whether CfE has delivered significant improvement to education in Scotland despite the successful introduction of new exams last summer.

CfE was supposed to make subjects more relevant, free up teachers' time and develop more relevant skills among pupils, but it has been dogged by concerns over teacher workload and confusion over when pupils decide to study particular subjects.

The only independent academic study into the reforms, by Stirling University, found significant variation across schools and identified teacher concerns about growing workload, a lack of time for preparation and "vague" national guidelines.

More recently, research found the new curriculum was characterised by "confusion" over the underlying importance of subject knowledge and standards of literacy and numeracy have also begun to slide prompting a debate about the reintroduction of more testing.

The letter continues: "RSE..... has had significant concerns about the implementation of the changes and are keen to avoid similar pitfalls as we move into future developments."

Highlighting a collection of evidence on CfE gathered by the Scottish Parliament's education committee the letter adds: "What the collection demonstrates is the lack of any reports of independent evaluations, major research or gathering of baseline data to enable a subsequent assessment to be made of whether the reforms have made any difference.

"Much of the material in the collection comprises discursive accounts which reflect widespread general support for the ideas underpinning the innovations, but also make clear the marked dissatisfaction with the implementation and resourcing of the reforms."

The letter concludes: "There are concerns that in recent years the former high quality of empirical research into Scottish education has not been maintained. "The level of funding for such research in recent years has been substantially lower than that provided in the past by the Government in Scotland. An important principle in innovative developments recognises that independent research plays a central role in promoting excellence."

However, Bruce Robertson, a member of the team charged with coordinating the government's submission to the OECD review team, insisted Scotland had "a good story to tell".

He added: "It is important to remember we do not implement curricular change in Scotland through legislation, but through consensus. Teachers and schools have put their shoulder to the wheel and there is some brilliant work going on.

"The Scottish Government invited the OECD in so we could gain from their international expertise, find out how well they think we are doing and benefit from any recommendations they have for the future."

The four-strong team of reviewers will be headed by David Istance, who leads the OECD's work on innovative learning environments. He will be joined by Andy Hargreaves from Boston College in the US, Helen Timperley from the University of Auckland in New Zealand and Maria Huerta, an analyst on the organisation's education and social progress team.

Mr Istance said: "What the review will do will be to give us as clear a picture as possible of the way in which CfE is working, how it has been designed and is being implemented. We will also look at the development in light of practice in other countries.

"One advantage of the review is that it is international. On the basis of that, we will come to a variety of different ideas about how it is working and what might be done in the future."

Angela Constance, the Education Secretary, said the review would provide "valuable, independent evidence on how well CfE is performing". The OECD team will report in December.