Learning

Learning outside school

Gap Years

What you need to know

There are definite advantages of taking a gap year, but you need to make sure that you explore all the opportunities and that you make the most of the time you have.

You need to decide what you are going to use your gap year for. This could be for any of the following reasons:

There are definite advantages to taking a gap year, but you need to make sure that you explore all the opportunities available to you and that you make the most of the time you have.

Firstly, you need to decide what you are going to use your gap year for. This could be for any of the following reasons:

To gain experience in your chosen career
To generally improve your confidence
To learn a language
To gain some work experience
To improve your grades.

You will also need to ask yourself if you want to work full-time, part-time, seasonally or maybe as a volunteer.

What you can do

If you didn't do very well in your exams, you might consider taking re-sits. This is an excellent use of a gao year and you will hopefully be able to improve your grades
You may want to consider doing some voluntary work, either in this country or abroad
You can also study abroad - completing whole or part of your course in another European country or get a work placement there. There are also educational exchanges in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand
You can use a gap year to meet lots of new people from different backgrounds, gain work experience, learn new skills and possibly a new language.