Talk:Gap year

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[edit] International equivalents of a gap year

What are the national equivalents of a Gap Year (I'm thinking both the term used and the actual practice thereof) ? I'm sure there must be an Australian and New Zealander equivalent (not least because there's so many antipodeans in Edinburgh already that their original countries must be deserted). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:17, 27 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Australians definitely have a culture of travel. I didn't realise how much until I migrated to North America. 5% of Australian citizens live outside the country at any given time but most return to Australia after a few years. Robertbrockway 22:27, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
In Canada, or at least in Ontario, we don't have a name for it, we just call it "taking a year off." Adam Bishop 00:30, 27 Apr 2004 (UTC)
At least in Ontario and Alberta Canada (Where I have lived) "taking a year off" isn't encouraged like it is in Australia and there is definitely no cultural tradition of taking a year off. In fact at the best of circumstances it is a neutral pursuit and it is usually discouraged. There is a definite tradition/expectation of working during the holidays and breaks though. In Canada it is actually a negative to future employers if you haven't worked while in school. In North America "gaps in your CV" are also a negative and some may consider a gap year just that. rasblue 04:41, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
In Australia it's invariably called "deferring". The student receives an offer from a university immediately after leaving high school, and defers commencement until a later date. [1] -- Tim Starling 00:37, Apr 27, 2004 (UTC)
I don't think that that's really the right term; we (in the UK) have deferred entry, yes, but that's to do with there being a year betwixt the end of attending one institution and enrolment at the next; the Gap Year is a specific activity that is often (but not always) carried out in this 'spare' year -- you could just spend the time lazing about instead, or doing some work. Gap Years are semi-structured, or at least focussed around an activity (like teaching English as a foreign language to school children in Chile, comme Prime William) and also generally include some level of travel abroad.
I suppose that it might be one of the not-so-few perculiarly British things... ;-)
James F. (talk) 02:18, 27 Apr 2004 (UTC)
In Australia deferring is definitely the correct word. A significant percentage of people defer going to University after high school for a year in Australia. So many that in Queensland at least deferring is as easy as ticking a box on the enrollment form. If you do this the university automatically holds your place for one year. Australians never call it a Gap Year. Robertbrockway 22:17, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

Brits don't have high schools, someone should rewrite th'article.

I've removed the reference to "British English" and included more of the international references. (Probably not all of them, though; I'm a bit tired at the moment.) I've also removed this bit at the end for now:
In New Zealand it is known as OE or The Big OE meaning Overseas Experience but is more commonly undertaken after graduating from university with two years relevant work experience. It just doesn't feel right at the end. I have included the OE in the also-known-as part of gap year. SujinYH 04:44, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] confused by terms

There appears to be some confusion here over the names of institutions. The article states that gap years are taken "between a student's completion of secondary school and matriculation in college or university...". 'Secondary school' is a primarily English term I think but 'college' in this context refers to university does it not? An Americanism. As far as I'm aware, in Britain colleges are generally stand-alone sixth form colleges attended for two years after secondary school and before university. It is in between college and university that gap years are usually taken. In addition to this, many schools have an integrated sixth form, and in regard to these institutions, the article is justified (except for the use of the term 'college'). Just thought I'd say that. Please correct me if I'm wrong though. I wouldn't want to edit the article unless I was sure.

In England and Britain i believe a gap year can be taken between leaving school for college or sixth form and also from college/ sixth form to university. --JMcD 00:54, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

High school is commonly used in British English to mean Secondary school, and "College" rather than being an Americanism, has long been used in the UK as generic shorthand for tertiary education although it hasn't survived as much as in North America since so many UK colleges rebranded themselves as universities.Zagubov (talk) 15:07, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Structuring

I feel it is very obvios that this artical needs structure. A few ideas for headings.

  • Headings for 'gap year's' according to countries
  • Heading for 'afflunce of Gap Years' (by this i mean how they have developed or come about)
  • Gap Year Beheaver (e.g. travelling, working)

what are other editors opinions? --JMcD 00:51, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

I have gone and structured it anyway, i hope this gives people something to build upon, feel free to change headings of coures. --JMcD 23:59, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
I'm in the process of making the article more "formal", so to speak. Right now it sounds too conversational, which is not what an encyclopedia should be. SujinYH 17:57, 23 July 2006 (UTC)
OK, is there any sections or research i could possibly help with so are editing dosen't clash? --JMcD 23:39, 23 July 2006 (UTC)
I see just a gap year in the US and the history of the gap year in the UK. Making the gap year more international in scope would be good. SujinYH 00:18, 22 August 2006 (UTC)


The section "2000-present: online developments, global growth, natural aging" sounds quite like marketing information from the cited website ("The opportunities are staggering!") Could we clean this up a little? --65.33.176.241 (talk) 08:07, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What do students on gap years actually do?

This article doesn't provide a clear overview of this.--h i s s p a c e r e s e a r c h 21:08, 19 March 2007 (UTC)