How do you feel about NAPLAN? Love it, hate it or have some suggestions, we want to hear your thoughts.

Join Australian Greens Senator for South Australia Penny Wright for a community forum on the future of NAPLAN testing and have your say.

Please click on the events below to register your interest!

BLACKWOOD COMMUNITY CENTRE

18 May, 7.30pm

The Australian Greens have warned changes to the MySchool website to be announced today risk distorting education priorities and will not provide a holistic representation of local schools.

Australian Greens spokesperson for  schools Senator Penny Wright said NAPLAN scores didn't represent school achievement and warned new comparative features would create unfair contrasts.

"Under this new plan, you'll be comparing apples with oranges and coming up with bananas," Senator Wright said.

Australian Greens spokesperson for schools Senator Penny Wright says the emphasis on NAPLAN testing has gone too far, as new MySchool data is released today.

The Australian Greens have previously called for the ranking functions on the MySchool site to be removed.

"There is no doubt MySchool site has introduced a competitive element which is damaging student and teacher wellbeing and distorting our idea of what matters in education," Senator Wright said.

South Australia's private schools only achieve the same results as comparable public schools, despite spending almost $180 million more a year more on their students.

Analysis by researchers Chris Bonnor and Bernie Shepherd, prepared for Australian Greens Senator for South Australia Penny Wright, shows almost a quarter of government funding to private schools is in excess of what it costs to educate similar students in public schools.

The Abbott Government's teacher training review overlooks critical elements in encouraging quality teaching and learning, say the Australian Greens.

Spokesperson for Schools Senator Penny Wright said the review did not look at how to attract the best and brightest into teaching careers.

"University entrance standards and accreditation are pieces of the puzzle, but no review of teacher training can be complete without examining what's needed to attract the top candidates to teaching," she said.

Australian Greens spokesperson for schools Senator Penny Wright has urged caution over the use of fingerprinting to record attendance at South Australian schools.

Senator Wright said the East Para Primary School community should have been more widely consulted and urged the State Government to conduct broader research and information campaigns before expanding the system.

"Biometric data is still not well understood and it's very natural parents will have concerns about privacy," she said.

The Australian Greens are calling on the Abbott Government to honour a pre-election commitment to overhaul NAPLAN testing, as the latest national report reveals the number of children withdrawn from the annual tests has reached a record high.

I move that the Senate

1.      notes:

a.      the Youth Connections program has assisted hundreds of disengaged young people to reconnect to education, training or employment;

b.      funding to the program has been cut by the Federal Government and will officially end on December 31, 2014;

c.       the government has not allocated any funds to any similar or replacement program;

d.      this will be the first time in 20 years there is no federally-funded program to assist young people to re-engage with pathways to future work and education;