Latest gap year trends
Thursday, 14 Aug 2008 17:17
As UK students digest their A Level results and plan their futures, the top gap year destinations and activities have been revealed in a new study.
Year Out Group has been analysing gap year trends from 2007, with volunteering emerging as the top choice for a gap year or career break placement.
The not for profit association of 35 UK gap year providers revealed that the most popular destination for gap years in 2007 was South Africa, topping the chart for the second time in three years.
Other countries in the top 12 include Canada, Kenya, Ecuador and the USA.
Where young Brits choose to participate in a volunteering project, teaching emerged as the most popular activity.
Recently-released figures from the Department for Children, Schools and Families indicate that the total number of teachers in schools has increased by eight per cent between 1997 and 2007.
Many of those are gappers who chose a teaching placement with the aim of having an interesting and worthwhile cultural experience but found the activity to be so rewarding it became a career option.
Other popular gap year activities include general care, land-based conservation projects, community projects and winter and water sports courses.
More and more gapers appear to be choosing structured gap year placements.
The study found a marked 20 per cent increase in the number of structured placements being taken up in 2007.
The principal age group taking up gap year placements remains the 18-24 year olds (76 per cent), with a quarter of placements filled by over-25s and 3,000 filled by over forty-year-olds.
Females (59 per cent) continue to outnumber males (41 per cent) when it comes to taking up gap year volunteering placements abroad.