School inspectors have launched a crackdown on red tape in the classroom.

Education Scotland said its staff would highlight unnecessary bureaucracy when they visit schools, as well as performing their usual role of looking at the quality of education.

The move comes after a significant increase in paperwork in the last few years as a result of the introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) school reforms.

Under CfE, schools are expected to assess how well pupils are performing against a range of new measures - known as outcomes and experiences - which has led to more paperwork.

Secondary schools have also been implementing a raft of new qualifications that rely more ­heavily on internal assessments, which have also added to school bureaucracy.

Graeme Logan, strategic ­director at Education Scotland, said some schools had also mistakenly created extra paperwork to show inspectors they were effectively delivering CfE.

He said: "The message is coming loud and clear from Education Scotland that this sort of bureaucracy is not what we are looking for and not what was anticipated under CfE.

"Teachers work very hard to get the best for their pupils, but that does not mean they have to create a mountain of paperwork proving they are assessing children against every single outcome and experience.

"We believe the message is now getting across to schools that this sort of bureaucracy is not required, which will free up more time for learning and teaching."

The move was welcomed by Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) teaching union.

However, he also warned that a new EIS survey showed some schools and councils were still not tackling the issue.

He said: "The EIS welcomes the role that Education Scotland's inspectors are now being asked to fulfil to help deliver reduced bureaucracy in our schools.

"Ironically, much of the unnecessary paperwork that has arisen has been created a sort of defensive measure, as evidence of what is being done just in case the inspectors do visit.

"But the inspectors themselves are actually very clear - they do not want rooms full of ring binders with information on audits of audits, as these form no real purpose in supporting learning and teaching."

Mr Flanagan said a national survey carried out by the EIS ­highlighted the need for schools and councils to do more to deliver reductions in unnecessary bureaucracy - as outlined in a report by the CfE Working Group on Tackling Bureaucracy last year.

The group, chaired by the ­Scottish Government, was ­established as a direct response to teachers' concerns over excessive workload

"While the report has been used effectively in some schools, many of those who responded to our survey identified a clear gap between the recommendations of the report and the reality in schools," said Mr Flanagan. "The report was intended to have an immediate impact in supporting work at school level to cut bureaucracy, but our evidence is that this has just not happened in many schools across the country."

The report of the working group identified a number of causes for the increased workload and bureaucracy.

It found schools were overly detailed in their planning, with too much repetition. It also found assessment, tracking and reporting systems were unsuitable and that there were "cumbersome" approaches to reporting to parents.