IT HAS been easily the most controversial innovation in Scottish education over the past decade.

Critics of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) have argued it has reduced subject choice and ushered in a culture of red tape and bureaucracy.

But now officials from one of the world's best education systems are travelling to Scotland to learn about the benefits of CfE, which seeks to shift the focus away from exam cramming and develop wider skills such as problem-solving and group working.

Under a new partnership, seven schools from Espoo, the second largest city in Finland, are to be linked with seven schools in East Lothian with teachers and pupils given the opportunity to collaborate and share their expertise and experience.

International tables shows Finnish children perform extremely well in literacy, numeracy and science even though they start school at an older age and spend fewer hours a year in the classroom than their counterparts elsewhere in Europe.

However, the country is implementing a new national curriculum and wants to learn from the experiences of schools in Scotland.

The visit was brokered by the General Teaching Council for Scotland whose Chief Executive, Kenneth Muir is an expert on the Finnish education system.

He said: "We are delighted to have been able to bring together schools in Scotland to partner with schools in Espoo which is part of the highest performing education area in Finland.

"Usually the world looks to Finland for educational excellence, but here is an example of Finland looking to Scotland.

"This confirms the high quality that exists in many Scottish schools and proves that we need to offer more positivity about our education system and the opportunities afforded children and young people here."

Eeva-Kaisa Ikonen, Espoo's superintendent of education, said Finish schools were looking to shift emphasis in the curriculum to create more of a focus on collaborative learning.

She said: "We have been impressed with the Scottish school improvement and professional learning programmes as well as the practices for implementing CfE.

"Espoo greets our new partnership with East Lothian schools and looks forward to shared learning experiences on these and other mutually significant themes.”

Fiona Robertson, head of education at East Lothian Council, added: "We are very proud of our schools in East Lothian and I’m delighted that our staff will have this fantastic opportunity to share expertise and collaborate with their counterparts from Espoo.

"The fact that we have the opportunity to be involved in this partnership is a reflection of the quality of our schools, our hard work and determination of all in East Lothian to secure the best outcomes from our children."

John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister, also welcomed the development.

“It is extremely welcome that the excellence within our schools in Scotland is being acknowledged by such a high performing and respected nation like Finland," he said.

“I am especially pleased to hear of their interest in CfE the work currently going on to improve the life chances of all our children and young people.

“I am sure this will be a useful and informative experience for all the schools involved and I look forward to finding out more about how the project is progressing."

In September last year a major critic of Scotland’s curriculum warned standards were being ‘dumbed down’ since its introduction in 2010.

Professor Lindsay Paterson, from Edinburgh University, said CfE lacked “academic rigour” and could be “disastrous” for school pupils.

While recent international rankings caused concern placing Scotland as “average” more pupils are gaining Highers than ever before and the number of Scots getting to university is at record levels.