Education secretary John Swinney has failed to hand teachers new guidance on the government's curriculum before pupils returned to school.

In June, Swinney pledged in the Scottish Parliament to provide teachers with a "basic framework" for which they could teach in "confidence" to help close the attainment gap between the richest and poorest students.

Swinney said: "We will put in place clear and simple statements that give teachers confidence about what curriculum for excellence does and does not expect of them.

"We will declutter the curriculum and strip away anything that creates unnecessary workload for teachers and learners.

"I have instructed Education Scotland to prepare and publish a clear and concise statement of the basic framework within which teachers teach, which will be published in time for the new school session in August."

STV News can reveal the guidance has not been delivered as promised by the education secretary to the country's 48,000 teachers.

Glasgow City Council, the country's largest local authority, confirmed they had not received the framework and did not know when it was due to be published.

Pupils in the city returned to classrooms on Monday following the summer break.

A spokeswoman for the Council said: "We are aware of this but do not know when this is due to be published. However, 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."

Scottish Labour said it is a sign that Swinney's changes to education are already behind schedule.

The party's education spokesperson Ian Gray said: "Whilst the First Minister is posing for photos at schools her flagship education plan is already behind schedule.

"Teachers were promised concise and clear guidelines to declutter the curriculum and clarify what is expected on them especially when it comes to teaching literacy and numeracy.

"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."

After being approached by STV News, the Scottish Government pledged to publish the new guidance by August 29.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: "We are determined that this guidance will provide an emphatic statement of priorities for Scotland's schools that addresses all of the relevant issues and provides the clarity that teachers need.

"To ensure that it is delivered we are consulting widely across the teaching profession."

Swinney was installed as education secretary in Nicola Sturgeon's first cabinet reshuffle following May's Holyrood election.