MINISTERS are being forced to hold a review into the teaching system in Scotland’s schools amid fears it is restricting subject choice for pupils, especially in poorer areas.

MSPs voted for an evaluation of how Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) is being implemented after raising concerns about “fundamental failings with regard to subject choice”.

The impact on subject and exam choices in the senior phase (S4 to S6) will be a “priority” for the exercise.

It followed a Tory-led debate at Holyrood about CfE that drew upon research showing subject choices falling from eight to six in S4 in many schools in recent years, with fewer options in deprived catchments.

Holyrood’s education committee is currently examining whether the issue is contributing to the attainment gap between well-off and poorer pupils and limiting their life choices.

Education Secretary John Swinney said he agreed with an amendment put forward by Scottish Labour’s Iain Gray that an evaluation of CfE implementation should be carried out.

But he argued Parliament should wait until the committee had finished its work later this year, and said some of the evidence presented to it was “highly disputed” by other experts.

He said: “Focusing on number of qualifications taken in S4 simply does not recognise that CfE enables our young people to achieve higher levels of knowledge and experience across a broader range of subjects by the end of S3 or that more and more young people stay at school beyond S4 and beyond S5.”

But Tory education spokeswoman Liz Smith said CfE had “completely lost its balance” and now had less focus on core subjects.

She said: “Education is the most precious gift that we give to our young people but for far too many of them the current system of schooling in SNP Scotland is letting them down.”

Mr Gray said Mr Swinney’s preference would “simply kick the can down the road for another day again”.

Scottish LibDem MSP Tavish Scott said: “CfE wasn’t meant to narrow subject choice. But that’s exactly what seems to have happened. This isn’t by design but by implementation.

“Teachers are clear that timetabling, funding and teacher numbers are hindering them from being able to deliver for their pupils. All the while, the Government’s premier advisers can’t seem to offer a shred of concrete detail on what’s happening in our schools. The Education Secretary must bring forward a review of CfE implementation as soon as possible.”

Green MSP Ross Greer said: “The evidence is clear; pupils in the most deprived communities have fewer subjects to choose from than their peers in the wealthiest postcodes. This is a measurable inequality but when challenged, including by myself last month, the government’s education agency simply refused to admit that it exists.

“The principles of CfE are the right ones, but something isn’t working.”