New education secretary John Swinney should put a stop to the "remorseless drive" towards national school testing, the Scottish Lib Dems have said.

Former party leader and Lib Dem MSP Tavish Scott called on Swinney to "reset the clock" with regards to national testing and "review his government's approach".

This follows a report in the Herald on Thursday revealing concerns raised by the National Parent Forum of Scotland, which said current Scottish Government plans could see five-year-old primary pupils sit tests of up to an hour long.

The forum has been generally supportive of the SNP's national testing drive, but said plans for numeracy, literacy and spelling tests of up to 60 minutes each were "not in the best interests of pupils".

The forum's chair Iain Ellis added the tests would "put far too much pressure and stress on the individual pupils, particularly those in the first year of primary".

The tests are proposed for pupils in P1, P4, P7 and S3.

Tavish Scott said: "New Education Secretary John Swinney needs to urgently review the remorseless drive to national testing and school league tables.

"Asking five-year-old children to take hour-long tests is the wrong education policy and risks repeating Thatcherite failures of the past."

The Lib Dem MSP for Shetland added: "John Swinney can reset the clock. I encourage him to hold fire on national testing of school children and national school league tables.

"Instead he should review his government's approach. We will work with him if he can bring an open and inquiring mind to the most effective way to raise school standards and close the attainment gap.

"That is best done by working with teachers, pupils and parents and not imposing a one size fits all policy from Edinburgh."

The Scottish Government said it had "no wish" for a return to "stressful testing" and said any assessments would be "age appropriate".

Education secretary John Swinney said: "No child at primary school will sit an hour long test. Ministers have no wish to return to stressful testing in Scotland's schools for our children.

"We are introducing assessments, which will be age appropriate, and will allow teachers to tailor learning for each individual child.

"Nearly all schools in Scotland are already using standardised assessments - our plan is to replace these with assessments aligned to Curriculum for Excellence."

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced in August last year plans to roll out standardised testing for 5 to 14-year-olds as part of a new "national improvement framework".

The SNP have been criticised in the past over claims that numeracy and literacy levels have fallen among certain age groups.

National testing and school league tables had previously been scrapped in Scotland by the Labour-Lib Dem administration in 2003.

The First Minister appointed former finance secretary Swinney to the education brief in her first Cabinet reshuffle after winning the Scottish Parliament election on May 5.

The appointment of Swinney to the post has widely been seen as an indication that raising educational standards and reducing the attainment gap are among Sturgeon's highest priorities, as she stated during the Holyrood campaign.

Speaking after the reshuffle, Sturgeon said: "His appointment to this crucial role demonstrates how important education is to my government."

The SNP fell two seats short of an overall majority in May's Holyrood election, and will therefore need support from other parties to pass new legislation.

The Scottish Conservatives support national testing in primary schools and Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has expressed support for the policy in the past. The policy is opposed by the Scottish Liberal Democrats, while the Scottish Greens have expressed concerns.