FUTURE reform of what is taught in schools will be more gradual to ensure better support for pupils and teachers, the Scottish Government has pledged.

The promise from Michael Russell, the Education Secretary, follows two years of crisis in the classroom with teachers warning of unacceptable workload after the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) and new exams.

Speaking at the annual Scottish Learning Festival, in Glasgow, Mr Russell said new specialist forums involving teachers, officials and industry experts would be set up to monitor different areas of the curriculum to ensure changes were made when required.

Curriculum body Education Scotland has already established forums covering digital learning, expressive arts and mathematics and numeracy with future groups to cover social subjects, languages, heath and wellbeing, technology, Gaelic and sciences.

Mr Russell said: "We need to put the emphasis on continuous improvement rather than having a big bang approach and we need a process where there is continuous feedback.

"We have heard criticism of the Scottish Qualifications Authority, and they did a very good job in the end, but there needs to be a way for everyone who worked to deliver the new exams and curriculum to stay involved.

"Although the timetables were met, there was a feeling people were not responsive enough when concerns were raised and these forums are a good continuing mechanism to make sure that doesn't happen in the future."

Now nearing full implementation, CfE was one of the most significant reforms to school education in Scotland in more than a decade.

Part of its purpose was to move away from a system overly based on pupils' rote-learning to pass exams, with the introduction of more classroom assessments.

However, teaching unions argued the implementation was rushed and confused by a lack of information and resulted in more assessments and a significant rise in workload.

Graeme Logan, strategic director for Education Scotland, said: "There was a lot of engagement and discussion with CfE, but what we want is a more continual approach so that teachers and others with an interest have the chance to keep the curriculum under constant review and make refinements and improvements when they are needed rather than every few years stopping and doing something that is dramatically different from what we have done before.

"It should ensure a steadier approach to change so there is not a sudden change in direction."

Mr Russell also announced plans for a children's summit, to help improve services for young people and to build on the surge in interest in politics over the past few weeks.

He said: "This gathering will, I hope, be the beginning of a process that will see a children and young people's conversation take place around the country, harnessing the renewed interest in positive, energising, consented improvement that we've seen over the last two years."