Education minister Angela Constance defends new pupil testing plan

Scotland's Education Secretary Angela Constance has defended the government's plan to introduce a standardised system of schoolroom testing.

The minister told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "Since I've been the education secretary, there has been a very strong debate about the need for more information about how our children are doing, particularly in primary schools and in broad general education."

Ms Constance's comment came after Scotland's largest teachers' union, the EIS, said that the Scottish government plans for new assessments in schools were a "damaging, retrograde step".