MINISTERS are to press ahead with curriculum reforms despite recent criticism from academics and teachers.

John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister and Education Secretary, said giving more freedom to school staff was at the heart of the next phase of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE).

Earlier this month, Professor Lindsay Paterson, from Edinburgh University, said the programme lacked "academic rigour" and was "dumbing down" education.

He also said the programme, introduced in Scotland's schools in 2010, could widen the attainment gap, not close it.

However, speaking before a keynote address at the annual Scottish Learning Festival in Glasgow, Mr Swinney said it was time to take CfE further.

He said: "When Scotland set out to reform our school curriculum, a critical question was how we break free of the top-down diktats that dominated school education.

“We chose to free our teachers to teach, to be free to educate our young people and prepare them for a world that is ever-changing. It was a decision that asked a lot of our teachers.

"That liberated teachers from the prescription of the past, but it also asked them to take on the challenge of shaping the curriculum as best fits the individual children in their classrooms."

Mr Swinney said he did not want to return to an approach "designed for a previous era" that would leave pupils "ill-prepared" for the modern world.

He added: “Instead, we will go further. We will give schools and teachers more freedom. Through our new reforms, we will put more powers in the hands of headteachers and give teachers even greater freedom to teach.

"And we will back that up with more professional development and more professional support. We will press on with reform. We will keep faith in our teachers. And, together, we will build a school education system designed to equip our children for the future."