The Scottish Government has abandoned its manifesto commitment to cut class sizes in the first three years of primary to 18 pupils by the end of this parliament.
Ministers have admitted that the pledge has become a "nightmare" and may not even be delivered before the end of the next parliament in 2015.
Michael Russell, the education secretary, said the party had accepted "an air of realism" about the policy. He said a more manageable target would be to reduce a fifth of P1-3 classes to 18 by next year.
The U-turn follows complaints from local authorities that the commitment was undesirable. Last week the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland called for flexibility, suggesting there should be an "average" teacher-to-pupil ratio of 18.
An SNP source said the policy, which will now be focused on the most deprived areas, had left ministers "looking into an abyss" in their relationship with local authorities.
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Russell hopes to cut class sizes to 18 by the end of the next parliament if the nationalists win the next election but will not offer any guarantees. "There has to be an air of realism about things," Russell said. "Getting to 20% by next August is a realistic aim, leaving us to do the bulk in the next parliament.
"That might seem modest, but we are going to have staging posts and a focus on areas of most deprivation."
The admission of failure follows recent evidence suggesting that Scotland's educational record may be declining.
Pat Watters, president of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, said councils could not commit to achieving a 20% target by next year. "I think the change and relaxation of what was an unworkable target to something that might be manageable is a step in the right direction," he said.
"Local authorities are currently considering their position. I don't have all their responses yet, but when I do I will have a better idea."
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John Stodter, general secretary of ADES, said he believed maintaining the target was bad use of public money. "Single class sizes [are] expensive in terms of buildings. A lot would have to be extended or changed," he said.
Iain Gray, leader of the Scottish Labour party, said: "This is a personal humiliation to the first minister, who made this commitment. The tragedy is that those suffering under the lost years of the SNP's education policy are the pupils and teachers of Scotland."
Liz Smith, education spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: "At last the SNP has admitted that their class size pledge was a cynical con to buy votes."