Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said that a move away from mass testing of pupils at a particular time of year to testing when they are ready would be introduced if trials were successful.

But shadow children’s secretary Michael Gove said the move could mean that testing became less rigorous.

Branding the Children’s Plan an “underwhelming collage with no underlying vision”, Gove said that the government had missed a great opportunity to deliver a world-class education system.

And teaching unions said the move did not go far enough.

Chris Keates, general secretary of NASUWT, said: “It’s not the tests which place pupils and teachers under pressure.  The real problem is the annual league tables. Regrettably there are no proposals in the Children’s Plan to remove them.”

The plan also outlines new guidance for Building Schools for the Future to ensure that where possible schools are designed with other services including health and the police co-located with them.

And £18m will be invested over the next three years to improve initial teacher training in special educational needs and to implement new ways to identify dyslexia earlier.