By MICHAEL BLACKLEY, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR THE SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL
Homework would be abolished for primary school pupils and exams phased out in secondaries under 'madcap' proposals unveiled by the Scottish Greens.
The party came under fire for setting out one of the most radical overhauls of the traditional schooling ever proposed by a mainstream political party.
Its manifesto for the Holyrood elections will commit to ending all homework for primary school pupils because it claimed this can have a negative impact on learning due to the 'lack of motivation for additional schoolwork'.
The party also claimed that homework worsens inequality by disadvantaging pupils without access to technology and learning resources at home.
Independent MSP Fergus Ewing, who represents Inverness and Nairn, said: 'The wine bar revolutionaries must have been glugging too much Chablis when they came with this madcap wheeze.
'Their time in Government wreaked havoc with the economy. The main parties must before the Scottish elections rule out any deal with the Greens, who should not be within a thousand miles of government. No-one should risk voting for any party that would bring the Greens back into government.
'Children need to learn to read, write, count and spell. To develop literacy and numeracy skills they need the discipline of having to work at things to learn and make progress. Homework and exams are vital to children's education.'
He also highlighted that Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer quit his politics and psychology course at Strathclyde University to become Yes Scotland's communities co-ordinator for the independence referendum before becoming an MSP, and said: 'Just because the Green leader Greer didn't bother to finish his education when he quit university shouldn't mean he deprives others of the chance and the right to do so.'
The Greens said their proposals were 'one of the boldest overhauls of Scottish education in decades'.
The party said it previously commissioned research which found that homework in primary school 'can have a negative impact on learning due to younger children's lack of motivation for additional schoolwork' and that it can 'worsen inequality as it disadvantages children without access to technology and learning resources or whose home life makes it difficult to complete'.
Its manifesto will also include a commitment to 'move away from Scotland's Victorian-era system of high stakes exams', and will propose that more of each pupil's grade is based on work completed during the year.
Scottish Conservative education spokesman Miles Briggs said: 'This bonkers call is another illustration of the dangers the extremist Greens pose to Scotland and our education system.
'Homework is an important part of school life, helping pupils to develop their understanding and knowledge.
'It teaches both primary and secondary school pupils valuable life-skills and should not be scrapped.'
Mr Greer said: 'Homework in primary school offers little, if any, proven benefit. In fact, the evidence suggests it can do more harm than good. It can dampen rather than encourage curiosity, turning education into something to dread rather than love.
'Children need time to play, to explore and to socialise with each other after school. Homework gets in the way of these learning opportunities.
'Everyone accepts that the primary curriculum has become far too cluttered. This puts pressure on teachers to issue more homework just to get through it all. That isn't the solution though, fixing the curriculum is.
'We can't just stick with homework because it's what we've always done. We need to think big, be bold and embrace this chance to fix the system.'
He added: 'High stakes end of term exams have never been a fair or accurate way of measuring a young person's knowledge or their abilities. A bad cold or a poor night's sleep caused by a chaotic home life can mean students missing out on the grade they really deserved. That just isn't right.
'The Scottish Government's own expert review told them to move on from this Victorian-era system, but they refused. Scottish education needs to be pulled into the 21st century, not held back by this timid thinking. The Scottish Greens will deliver these long overdue improvements for our school system.'
A Scottish Government spokesman said ministers had agreed with the Hayward Review recommendation that the balance of assessment methods in the senior phase 'should change to have less reliance on high-stakes final exams'.
He added:'This means that, in the future, internal and continuous assessment will contribute to a greater percentage of a final grade.
'Indeed, written exams have already been removed from more practical courses, such as metalwork and woodwork, where coursework and practical assessment better reflect the nature of the subjects.
'The Government has been clear, however, that taking steps to rebalance assessment does not mean that exams will be removed.'
The spokesman added:'It is also appropriate that headteachers and teachers in our primary schools are empowered to make decisions for the children and young people they support every day; this includes decisions on the use of homework.'