FLAGSHIP plans to improve standards in Scotland's classrooms are already delayed.

Speaking in late June, Education Secretary John Swinney said that new guidance for teachers designed to help them interpret the SNP's Curriculum for Excellence would be in place by the first day of term.

However, the promised "clear and concise framework" had not emerged as many children went back to school yesterday and the Scottish Government later admitted it would not appear until August 29.

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The country's largest local authority, Glasgow City Council, said it had received no information about when their teachers would get the new guidance and warned their staff would need time to get to grips with it.

A spokeswoman said: "Our teachers will need time to familiarise themselves with a new framework and it would be unrealistic to expect them to have a framework delivered one day and to be in place the next day.

"Teachers have already been using the experiences and outcomes from Curriculum for Excellence to support their planning for the last few years and careful planning is crucial for children’s learning. Any changes require to be thought through so that they bring about the appropriate improvements."

Labour's education spokesman, Iain Gray, criticised Nicola Sturgeon for appearing at school-based photo-ops with her education reforms already behind schedule. The First Minister has staked her reputation on closing an attainment gap between rich and poor pupils and earmarked education as her number one priority area.

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Mr Gray said: "Teachers were promised this for going back to work but the wheels have already come off that plan with the SNP now promising it by the end of the month, long after schools have come back and when teachers will be well on with lesson planning. If the SNP are going to make promises to teachers and parents they need to keep them."

A Government spokeswoman confirmed the revised publication date but said the guidance would be "an emphatic statement of priorities for Scotland's schools that addresses all of the relevant issues and provides the clarity that teachers need."

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She added: "To ensure that it is delivered we are consulting widely across the teaching profession. This includes engagement with the Scottish Government's teachers' panel, the Assessment and National Qualifications Working group and the Curriculum for Excellence management board, which includes representatives of the teaching unions, councils and a range of partners."