Call to scrap school tests system

The paper accused ministers of "consistently exaggerating" the technical rigour of GCSEs and national curriculum Sats tests.

There are "severe" problems defending tests against accusations of dumbing down when exams keeps changing, according to the study, published by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.

The booklet even raised the prospect of abandoning GCSEs altogether.

Coming from the body which runs the Government's flagship specialist schools scheme, the report contains some of the most serious criticism to hit England's beleaguered testing regime.

"The whole teaching profession agrees that in the matter of assessment we are in a fine mess," the report said.

"In its defence of the current assessment system, the Government has consistently exaggerated the technical rigour of national assessments and the GCSE.

"Maintaining standards over time, and defending improvement against the charges that the exams are becoming easier or marking more lenient, is a particularly sensitive area. If you want to measure change, don't change the measure. But the nation does - and should - revise the national curriculum regularly.

"Whenever there is change, whether minor or radical, the maintenance of test standards becomes a particularly severe problem. And this is a constant, not occasional, problem."

The report listed the "damaging side effects" of the current system. These included the fact that teachers spend weeks coaching children to pass their Sats and the "unreasonable pressure" placed on pupils by continual testing.