KEZIA Dugdale, the frontrunner in the Scottish Labour leadership race, has called for a return to national testing in primary schools and a complete overhaul of school inspections in a move that would put her party at odds with teaching unions.

The Lothians MSP used a final keynote campaign speech in Edinburgh to outline radical plans aimed at closing the attainment gap between children from affluent and poorer backgrounds.

Rather than announce the initiatives as part of Scottish Labour's next election manifesto, she presented them as a "gift" to Nicola Sturgeon and challenged the First Minister: "Get on with it."

Under Ms Dugdale's plans, which will be become Scottish Labour policy if she is elected leader on Saturday, the patchwork of different P7 tests used by education authorities across Scotland would be replaced by a "national framework".

She said the use of bought-in standard tests was "inconsistent and inefficient" and claimed unions and other political parties backed standardised testing to improve teaching and drive up standards.

However, answering questions following her speech to party supporters at Edinburgh University, she conceded the published data from the tests could be used to compile league tables.

League tables have been strongly opposed by unions - and by Labour and the SNP - on the grounds some schools are unfairly labelled failures on the basis of their exam results.

Ms Dugdale's comments came as the Scottish Conservatives stepped up their call for national tests in primary schools.

The party - which backs league tables - released figures showing Scottish education authorities spent £3.6million over the past three years buying in tests from Durham University and private education companies.

A system of standard tests for five- to 14-year-olds was scrapped in 2003 by Labour's then education minister, Peter Peacock.

The move followed complaints that teachers were "teaching to the tests" at the expense of giving pupils a broader education.

In May, Nicola Sturgeon refused to rule out a return to standardised tests as part of a new "national performance framework" that is being developed for schools.

Since then, however, Larry Flanagan, the leader of the EIS teaching union, has claimed ministers have reassured him that standardised school testing will not be adopted.

Ms Dugdale also called for all school inspections to be halted for a year to allow the introduction of a new regime measuring work to reduce the attainment gap.

Help for children in care should also be at the heart of a the new inspection regime, she said.

In a third key proposal, the MSP confirmed she wanted specially qualified teachers working in schools in deprived areas to receive a pay rise.

She claimed Ms Sturgeon had done "very little" to tackle the gap between children from rich and poor backgrounds despite making it her number one priority.

In a swipe at the First Minister, she said: "After a year in which really nothing has happened, I find myself shaking my head in disbelief and saying, 'just do something'."

The Scots Tories released figures from 26 of Scotland's 32 education authorities, obtained under freedom of information, showing they spent £3.6million over the past three years buying in tests.

Scots Tory education spokeswoman Liz Smith said: "These figures show that we have a chaotic, patchwork system of testing across Scotland's primary schools which is undermining the ability of teachers to fully assess the basic skills of their pupils.

"At the end of it we are left without any nationally agreed standard tests which would tell us how schools and their pupils are performing across Scotland."

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour leadership contender Ken Macintosh said his party had failed to "lay a glove" on the SNP in the past eight years.

The Eastwood MSP, who was a frontbench spokesman for much of the period, also told BBC Radio Scotland Labour had been too "loud, shouty and angry".

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS, said: "The EIS supports the CfE approach to assessment, which is focussed on assessment being used to support learning and not as an imposed benchmarking tool which points towards accountability measures rather than children's learning.

"National testing, and a league table approach to standards, is precisely what has been rejected here in Scotland although embraced by the UK government in England. The EIS does not expect a move in this direction from Scottish Government.

"We are happy to discuss how we generate and make use of data but we won't entertain a return to failed methods from the past."