Concerns were raised in the Senate Wednesday about the assessment procedures for home schools as amendments were passed to the 1996 Education Act to make their operation easier.

A number of Senators said the assessment of home schooled children should not be left to their parents, who may lack the adequate educational background to properly assess them.

Introducing the changes, Government Senator Victoria Pearman said parents who will home-school children will now be required to register the children with the Education Ministry.

In order to ensure home schools provide safe environments for children, they will also be required to obtain Planning approval and meet Fire Service and Health and Family Services standards.

But Sen. Pearman argued that because a parent was not highly educated did not mean that they lacked the ability to assess their child's educational progression.

"Up until I was about 13, I had to read to someone every day. And it wasn't until I became old enough, that I realised that the person could not read themselves."

Independent Senator Walwyn Hughes questioned the wisdom of allowing parents to evaluate their own children without an outside standard as the Act now requires.

"What rigour does that have?" he asked. "This country needs to know people are coming out of home schools with educational standards which will enable them to get through life."

UBP Senator Rev. Leonard Santucci suggested Government must take more responsibility for assessing home schooled children.

"The parent may not have been formally educated in developing a method to measure their children's acumen," he said.

And the question of whether a school that had more than five students should be called a `home-school' was raised.

"I think they should be called private schools," said Governement Leader in the Senate David Burch.

And while she called them `situations' Independent Senator Jeanette Cannonier asked, "Who is ensuring that all of the standards are being met?"

Sen. Burch pulled no punches when he criticised the Opposition for doing what he called an "about-face" regarding the proposed amendments.

"I am astounded because most of the concerns heard today are the same ones that the Minister voiced in the past.

"The Shadow Minister "The shadow minister marched with the home school teachers and demanded they be left alone, but today in Senate they are doing a complete about-face," he said.

And he said that the regulations regarding educational assessments are important because if the time came when a parent no longer wanted their child to be home-schooled, they need some sort of formal benchmark to know what academic level their child had reached.

He predicted what would happen if no regulations were put into place: "People are going to say `The Government should have...!'."

Sen. Burch also pondered how, without assessment regulations, would home schooled children would be able to attend university.

"The home-schools must be where the education system is today.

"If you objectively assess options you will be hard-pressed to find a better option than a public school," he said.