One of the big challenges for non school based work experience in Australia, some internships or voluntary work, is the need for insurance cover to participate in the work place to see what job type may fit.
If your child has their eye set on a future profession or else wants to cultivate more experience trying different work environments, there can be the barrier of needing insurance cover. If the student is attending a school, the school will provide the insurance cover for the limited few weeks during school term. However home educated children are freer to explore their future of work as long as the insurance is attainable.
But what if your student is home educated, or your schooled child wants more experience during the holidays? What if your student is no longer registered as a student at all? What if you are a home educator? What then?
There are three options for work experience or Volunteer Worker’s Insurance:
- Purchase insurance once off for the particular work experience, however, this can be in the many hundreds of dollars.
- Whether a home educator or not, you can purchase a membership with the Home Education Network (HEN) for cover excluding Western Australia and Queensland for only $25. HEWA (formerly HBLN) for Western Australia cannot source work experience insurance and that continues to be a challenge there. HEN and HBLN are the only home education associations that have earned the trust of the home educating community to service home educator’s needs as an association for insurance purposes.
- Some registering bodies also offer work insurance to home educating students, so be sure to contact your state registration body first to enquire if they can help you. Click here for a link to each body throughout Australia.
- Or you can call your house and contents insurer and see if there is any provision for your student’s work experience to be included with your current package.
For further information on work experience in each state or territory, check out the Home Education Network’s page for helpful advice and links.
Ed Consult. Supporting Home Educators Across Australia.