The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) has criticised the Scottish Government's plans to introduce a system of classroom testing.

The Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association (SSTA) also raised concerns.

The plan will see national standardised assessments at primary schools and in the early years of secondary school.

At a meeting last weekend in Stirling, EIS Executive members stated their belief that reintroducing national testing would be a "damaging, retrogade step".

EIS General Secretary Larry Flanagan said: "The EIS Executive was emphatic in restating its long held opposition to national testing, which it believes will have a profoundly negative impact on Scottish education, entrench inequalities in our schools, and reverse the progress made, under Curriculum for Excellence, towards an assessment regime which genuinely supports children’s learning.

"While the Scottish Government has been very careful to state that its plans would not mean a return to the failed high-stakes testing regime of the past, it is clear that Scotland’s teachers are not convinced.

"The EIS shares the First Minister's desire to close the attainment gap and reduce the impact of poverty on pupils' education, but we are certain that the introduction of national system of standardised assessment is not the answer."

(LM)