SCOTLAND'S newest pro-independence party has opposed controversial plans for national testing for primary pupils.

The left-wing group Rise, a grassroots anti-austerity movement, said the Scottish Government should trust teachers rather than imposing new tests.

The call comes after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced all pupils would sit standardised national tests in literacy and numeracy by 2017.

Pupils will be tested three times in primary school and again in the third year of secondary as part of a drive to improve standards.

In the wake of the announcement executive members of the Educational Institute of Scotland teaching union re-affirmed their opposition to national testing and the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association said it could take industrial action over the plans.

The report by Rise said the introduction of standardised testing was likely to lead to "a number of damaging unintended consequences" for Scottish education, including reducing the country's ability to address educational inequality.

The report said countries with similar approaches, such as Australia, had experienced "significant negative effects" on their education system and argued that attempts to tackle inequality depended on teachers having "time and space" to employ their professional judgement.

A party spokesman said: "This report adds significant weight to the increasing opposition to the Scottish Government’s plans for a system of national standardised testing.

"It finds that testing is not supported by international evidence, is incompatible with Curriculum for Excellence and will almost certainly result in a range of damaging unintended consequences such as school league tables and the further entrenchment of educational inequality in Scotland.

"Despite the progressive language and good intentions, these proposals are in reality a throwback to the rejected Thatcherite education policies of the 1990s - policies which failed then and will fail now."

However, the Scottish Government said the new National Improvement Framework, which is currently being devised, would look at a range of evidence on children’s progress including testing.

A spokeswoman said recently: "This new system will help reduce the burden of assessment on teachers and children, building on best practice and replacing the wide variety of approaches taken by local authorities with a new streamlined, consistent one. This is not a return to the national testing of old."