Scotland's largest teaching union has suspended industrial action over the workload put on teachers following a decision to scrap some unit assessments.

At a meeting of its national council, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) agreed to call off the action short of a strike in relation to "excessive" teacher workloads.

The decision to stop action came in the wake of education secretary John Swinney's announcement to cut the mandatory National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher unit assessments last week. This was agreed by the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) management board on Thursday.

The assessments, which play a part in the final exam, will be replaced from 2017/18 for National 5 pupils and from 2018/19 for Higher pupils.

Pupil's grades will now be determined by strengthened final exams and coursework which will be marked externally.

Welcoming the news, the EIS said it would lighten the burden of assessment on pupils and teachers in secondary schools.

General secretary Larry Flanagan said: "The agreement that has now been reached at the CfE management board, based on a proposal submitted by the EIS, is a significant victory for teachers and pupils in our secondary schools.

"The changes that have been agreed, to permanently remove compulsory unit assessments from all National 5 and Higher courses, will ease the assessment burden on pupils and teachers, and create time and space for deeper learning and teaching in our classrooms."

He added: "Today is not the end of the process of cutting SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority) workload but demonstrates our good faith in the promises that have been made.

"It is now for the SQA to deliver its commitments and the EIS will be watching very closely to ensure that all the promises that have been made to pupils and teachers are kept."