Professor Lindsay Paterson, one of the leading educational thinkers in Scotland, criticised the Curriculum for Excellence as “confused” and “vague” and warned that it threatened to turn schools “upside down”.

In an article published today Dr Paterson, professor of educational policy at Edinburgh University, said that the “grand aims” of the Scottish Government’s flagship education policy were “so vague as to be unexceptional, and are incapable of providing clear guidance as to what will happen next August when the new curriculum is meant to start”.

The Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) supported his comments, adding that a vacuum of information meant councils and headteachers struggling to fill gaps and creating “huge variations” across the country.

Calling for teachers to be brought on board to develop plans, SSTA general secretary Ann Ballinger said: “If we end up with 32 methods of sorting the curriculum, one for each local authority, we are going to be very lucky; we are much more likely to end up with 400, one for every school.

“What this government inherited was a system of aims and objectives and not much else and they’ve continued with that process.”

Fears were also raised that independent schools might “not pay a great deal of attention” to the curriculum because it was too “vague”. Frank Gerstenberg, a former principal of George Watson’s College in Edinburgh, said: “The lack of emphasis on knowledge, and on the very basics of the curriculum is frightening.”

Business leaders joined the call for greater clarity in education policy.

Iain McMillan, director of CBI Scotland, said: “We support the principles of the Curriculum for Excellence but we are aware that there are concerns about a lack of detail at this stage and we would say that detail has to be made public very soon.”

A government spokesman said the Curriculum for Excellence was being developed with “very close involvement and leadership alongside key Scottish education agencies and trade unions to ensure CfE will provide the change needed within Scotland’s education”, adding that “the fundamental principle of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) is to trust teachers”.

“Our guidance supports them to develop the learning experience of their children in and beyond the classroom,” he said.