2018May21

What exactly is a gap year?


Finished Matric … now what? Securing a place at a tertiary institution is difficult and deciding what to study is even more daunting. Considering that statistically only 15% of students will eventually graduate, creates a considerable amount of additional pressure to making these critical decisions. One of the biggest reasons for the high drop out of tertiary studies, is that students are not sufficiently equipped with the learning tools and life skills required to manage the transition from school to university.
A Gap year is an optional year that many young South Africans take after school to explore and discover not only themselves, but the world.

With many gap year programmes suited to individual interests, learners are able to gain the following:

•    Work and business readiness – preparing for the world of work.

•    Self-employment opportunities – discovering the entrepreneur within. Read about why you should mentor others.

•    Community service – reaching into the local disadvantaged communities, enriching and building compassion and self-awareness.

•    Life coaching – changing limitations and setting goals.

•    Adventure activities to help juggle work and play to achieve a work life balance.

•    Build a career path and personal life plan.
For those learners who aren't entirely sure, taking a gap year could be the best option to consider. Not only can a gap year be considered as taking time out between life stages to ensure you pursue the right direction but also enables one to gain valuable experience, by participating in activities for self-improvement, that add to life experience and give career direction.

Here are a few Gap Year options: 

•    Summer camp leader - an opportunity for travel and meeting new people.

•    Work at a ski resort.
•    Teach English in a foreign country.

•    Au pair – looking after and living with other families, learning different cultures.
Read more about Adult Education Options.

Here are some programmes you might like to consider:

Anne-Marie Stanisavljevic

Managing Director of The Education Agency

In the process of completing a B Com Business Management, the last 3 years I was involved in selling a successful technology business and building an education business. My passion for the education industry, combined with my intrigue for technology solutions, brought about a very unique and innovative product that assists the South African youth of today with critical career decisions. Inadequate career guidance results in learners leaving school with only a vague knowledge of employment opportunities, little insight of career direction and students who undertake a tertiary qualification, irrespective of suitability. The missing link in effective career guidance in South Africa remains the learner/student’s ability to economically, easily and effectively identify a specific field of study and occupation. Online Career Guidance will provide individual career guidance to learner’s based on the career direction that is most suitable to them, with a comprehensive career report and planning tools that guides them into a specific career direction most suited to their ideal career orientation.

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