THE Scottish Government last night warned councils not to follow the example of the country's top education authority in ignoring official advice on the introduction of a new secondary school curriculum.

Michael Russell, the Education Secretary, said he was treating the controversial move by East Renfrewshire Council as "transitional" and "unique" and insisted it should not be replicated elsewhere.

The minister's intervention came after concerns were raised that the decision by East Renfrewshire threatened to undermine the core principles of the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE).

The original intention of CfE was to introduce a curriculum that was not overly dominated by exams in the early years to let pupils follow their interests.

As a result, rather than choosing exam subjects at the end of S2 and studying them in S3 and S4, pupils were supposed to have a broad general education until the end of S3, making subject choices a year later.

However, East Renfrewshire has decided this does not suit its pupils and will continue to allow them to make subject choices at the end of S2.

On Tuesday, Larry Flanagan, education convener of the Educational Institute of Scotland, the country's largest teaching union, said the decision would create uncertainty across Scotland, particularly if a host of other councils copied the move.

"The new curriculum is facing a major crisis with this move to defy the advice of ministers ... we need decisive leadership from the Scottish Government to arrive at a standard approach."

Yesterday, Mr Russell told The Herald that Education Scotland, the national education quango responsible for school standards, would be monitoring the situation closely.

"Nobody else is going to be able to nip under the bar because East Renfrewshire is in this position," he said.

"The situation in East Renfrewshire is unique and I do not see any other councils as being in that situation. We will have a dialogue with East Renfrewshire, and Education Scotland will be watching very closely and working very closely with East Renfrewshire in the future to make sure the core principles of CfE are observed.

"The current situation is understandable, but there is a close liaison taking place on the issue of subject choice, and the matter will have to be resolved in discussion."

Meanwhile, the Association of Directors of Education Scotland (Ades) called for uniformity of delivery on the new curriculum across Scotland.

Glenn Rodger, president of ADES and director of education for Scottish Borders Council, said: "We have been fully involved in, and remain committed to, the full implementation of CfE, including the broad general phase through to S3.

"There has been strong consensus about this approach, and directors would be very disappointed if there were to be any departure from it or any dilution of the broad principles and structure of CfE.

"The new curriculum framework is designed to meet the needs of all learners, allowing the highest-attaining pupils to specialise in a broader range of subjects at the highest levels whilst keeping options open.

"Properly designed, it can encourage more able learners to secure an even more attractive set of qualifications than at present."