CONTROVERSIAL primary school assessments should not cause undue concern, according to an international education expert.

Associate Professor Allison Skerrett, from the University of Texas, made her comments during a visit to Scotland.

The academic sits on on the Scottish Government’s International Council of Education Advisers (ICEA), which was initially sceptical of the assessments.

However, Ms Skerrett said their focus on helping teachers make accurate judgements about pupils could be a model for the rest of the world to follow.

Ms Skerrett said: “If the standardised assessment is used to shame or blame, label or rank schools, that serves no benefit.

“The data isn’t being used in ways that could cause the negative consequences that we were concerned about.”

The academic said it was too early for Scotland to take a decision to scrap the assessments because they were still being developed.

And she urged people to see the P1 tests as a part of larger improvement agenda across the curriculum.

She added: “Regardless of some diversity of opinions in ICEA I can say we generally support the ways in which the assessments have been delivered and the purposes for which they are going to be used.

“If they are used and delivered wisely and well through teacher judgement, with the support of school leaders, then it could give additional insight to teachers into areas in which their students are strong and areas in which they are struggling.”