Help or holiday?

Gap years are a waste of time and a “farcical masquerade”. At least, that's according to television presenter Vanessa Feltz. There's no doubting the stereotypical idea of gap years as nothing more than a glorified holiday for the children of affluent parents. But experts on the subject disagree.

“The image that a gap year is just a jolly for middle-class kids needs to be challenged,” says Dr Andrew Jones, a lecturer in human geography at Birkbeck College, University of London. He has conducted research into gap years for the Department for Education and Skills.

An ambiguous term

Taking time out from education was practically unheard of in the 1980s. Today, it's a phenomenon. Annually, some 250,000 young people in the UK, aged 16 to 25, opt for a gap year, according to Dr Jones's report, Review of Gap Year Provision.  

The controversy about the worth of a gap year is complicated by it being an ambiguous term, ranging from six months drinking your way around Australia to a few weeks working on a conservation project in Mexico. Rarely is it a year at all. But the desire to do something altruistic is a common motivation behind people's decision to go.

“Organised placements offer the chance to go straight to the projects and give help and work where it's needed,” says Joe Hallwood of i-to-i, which offers volunteer placements. “You're guaranteed that in your time abroad you'll be doing something worthwhile.”

A range of experiences

There are around 800 organisations offering a huge variety of overseas volunteering positions, including community work, teaching, development projects and a number of conservation and environmental schemes. But the altruistic image often projected by them isn't always matched by experience. As James Helsen, who went to Nepal on a teaching placement with Gap Activity Projects (GAP), found.

“I wanted to do something interesting and make a difference,” he said. “But once I was out there it just turned into a really nice extended holiday.”

Helsen found himself placed in a private school where he felt his help wasn't really wanted. He'd just completed his A-levels, didn't speak the local language and wasn't qualified as a teacher. “What the school did want was for people to come, have a nice time and leave lots of money. I felt that I was there as a kind of cash cow, which undermined the whole experience.”

Romantic illusions of achievement?

Feeling that their organised placement has failed to make the promised difference is a familiar grievance amongst gappers.

“While I felt that I, and my fellow volunteers, developed through our experiences, our aid towards the local community was minimal,” said Chris Gordon, who spent three months of his gap year in Chile with Raleigh International on a marine conservation project, at a minimum fundraising target of £2,995.

Many other volunteers who've worked overseas will tell you that the projects do make a positive difference. The problem is that volunteers are often over romantic in what they think they'll achieve.

“A lot of 18-year-olds have highly unrealistic ideas and think that they're going to be able to have a dramatic impact,” says Dr Jones. “There is a positive development aspect to these projects, but you have to remember that you're only an individual.”

Personal fulfillment

Often, the most positive impact of overseas volunteering is on the volunteer themselves. The experience of living in a developing country stays with you for the rest of your life.

“Overseas volunteering will make a whole generation more open and connected to the third world,” said Peter Slowe, founder of gap year organisation Projects Abroad. “Living and working in a developing country is a completely different experience to travelling. It helps overcome that