Teaching union chief Larry Flanagan has warned the Scottish Government's standardised testing plans are 'potentially absolutely destructive'.

Speaking at the Educational Institute of Scotland's (EIS) annual general meeting the union's general secretary warned of "potential" impacts of standardised testing.

The Scottish Government plan to introduce standardised assessments for all P1, P4, P7 and S3 pupils by 2017.

The EIS general secretary said the government's National Improvement Framework [NIF] could only be positive if it led to "increased resources" for his union members.

Flanagan said: "NIF shifts the locus of that data quite firmly away from schools and local authorities to the Scottish Government and it's a signal of intent, I think, around the Scottish Government's intention to create stronger leverage for itself around education performance.

"The litmus test will be what flows from any analysis of the data. It is potentially positive if it leads to increased investment and increased resources.

"It is potentially negative, and potentially absolutely destructive, if it narrows the focus onto an obsession with targets, which I think there will be a huge temptation.

The trade union boss Flanagan divulged to his members that he warned education secretary John Swinney in private meetings that the "absolutely the last thing Scottish education needs" is "a structural reorganisation that would simply be a huge distraction and, frankly, a waste of resources."

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson also came in for criticism in Flanagan's annual address.

He called on Scotland to to reject the Tories' education policies as they are "anathema" to Scotland's educational approach.

He said: "No matter how many photo opportunities the leader of the official opposition cares to indulge in, no matter how personable their spokespersons are, Scottish Conservative education policy is founded on precisely the same approach as the UK Conservative policy and it should be roundly rejected.

"It is anathema to the type of comprehensive, public sector, societal good approach we have embraced in Scotland."

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said education is her government's "top priority".