UK: Volunteering top choice for gap year

Volunteering is now the top choice for a gap year or career break placement, a new survey reveals. The most popular volunteering project is teaching, followed by hospital or child care work, land-based conservation projects and then community projects, according to gap year specialist Year Out Group. Other activities that are top of the list for ?gappers? include winter and watersports courses like skiing and sailing, followed by sports coach volunteering and expeditions.

Gap year placements are at an all time high with Year Out Group members recording a marked 20% increase in the number of structured placements being taken up in 2007, an increase of nearly 8,000 compared with the previous year. And satisfaction rates amongst individuals who have experienced a placement are extremely positive, with 98% of people rating their experience in a favourable light.

The principal age group taking up placements remains the 18-24 year olds (76%), indicating that many British youngsters are keen to do something positive with their gap year and help those less fortunate than themselves. But a quarter of placements are filled by the over 25s, fuelling the notion that those in their twenties and thirties are experiencing burn-out from corporate life and looking for a different challenge. Furthermore, nearly 3,000 gap year places were filled by over 40s last year ? an increase of nearly 1,000 placements on the previous year.

Women (59%) are continuing to outnumber males (41%) and are more likely to choose volunteering projects and expeditions rather than courses or cultural exchanges.

?Volunteering is overwhelmingly the gap year activity of choice,? said Richard Oliver, Chief Executive of the not-for-profit Year Out Group. ?Planning is crucial in order to make the right choice and we encourage all participants to spend time researching the placement that is best suited to them. This ensures that both those on the receiving end and the individual on the placement, receive the maximum mutual benefit.?

More info
www.yearoutgroup.org