Nicola Sturgeon has insisted that plans to publish the results of new national school tests have not changed, despite the Tories claiming she is backtracking from the proposals.
Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said Scotland's main teaching union, the EIS, has published an advice note saying the Scottish Government has "watered down" its plans for standardised assessments.
The assessments are being brought in for youngsters in P1, P4, P7 and S3, with SNP ministers arguing the data is vital in helping them close the attainment gap in schools.
Read more: Results of new national school tests to be given to parents
However critics have warned publishing the results of the tests, as outlined in the Scottish Government's National Improvement Framework, could lead to a return to school league tables.
Ms Davidson said the EIS now claims to have "forced changes" so that "standardised test scores will not be collected or published".
She also said the teachers' union adds "there is actually no need for all pupils to sit assessments in the first place".
The Tory leader challenged Ms Sturgeon on the issue at the first session of First Minister's Questions at Holyrood since May's election, in which the Tories overtook Labour to become the second largest party in the parliament.
Ms Davidson said: "The First Minister said publishing more information and more data was vital if we are to improve our schools, but it now appears she is backing off from her own original plans, why hasn't she stuck by them?"
She added: "They are backing off from it, that is what they have told the teachers across our country.
Read more: Bureaucracy warning over new national school tests
"The First Minister and I absolutely agree this needs to be done. We will stick by our guns. Why isn't she sticking by hers?"
But Ms Sturgeon said: "The leader of the main opposition party may have changed but there doesn't appear to be any greater ability on that leader's part to adapt her questions to the answers she is given.
Read more: Parents worried about 'potentially damaging' impact of national testing
"Let me try and make it clearer. All of the data that the National Information Framework says will be gathered and published will be gathered and published.
"That has not changed. That remains the case now in the way that it was when I published the National Improvement Framework, no change whatsoever to that."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel