Project Trust (PT) is one of the longest established Gap Year organizations in the UK. It is based at The Hebridean Centre on the island of Coll off the West coast of Scotland where prospective and returning volunteers are required to attend residential selection, training and de-briefing weeks intended for suitability, preparation and dealing with culture shock.
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Founded in 1967 it has provided almost 6000 volunteer students with various Gap Year experiences. Project Trust attracts a range of school leavers mostly from the UK, but also from Ireland, the Netherlands and other Western European countries. It sends them to over 100 projects around the globe. There are projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America including Guyana, China, Japan, Botswana amongst many others.
It is a small educational charity, which offers a full year overseas compared to the more common six months other gap year companies offer. This is potentially more expensive as it denies the participants the ability to work before leaving, however, all of the projects involve paid work so participants can live relatively cheaply once there. Project Trust claims that volunteers do not take away from the local job market and their volunteers immerse themselves within the local community.
There are three projects available in Japan. The first is based on the Northern Island of Hokkaidō, in the town of Toyako at Lake Toya. Two volunteers work for the Toya Board of Education doing a variety of jobs. These include working at Elementary schools, Toya High school, the local nurserys, volunteering at the local Hospital (no longer as of sept 2010) as well as taking an adult evening class. Being a slightly isolated location, it tends to require volunteers who are independent, capable and awesome. There are five months of snow offering opportunities to ski or snowboard at resorts such as Niseko and Rusutsu.
The second project is based in Tokyo, working at Junten Junior High School. It offers volunteers a variety of opportunities to be involved in Japanese culture.
The final project is based in Kyoto, working and living in a Buddhist community.
There are Currently 10 projects in Thailand, spanning from The North on the borders with Laos and Myanmar, to the North-east area of Issan. A number of the projects in Issan are located around Ubon Ratchathani. Det Udom, Srisaket, and Lerng Nokta are several of these and are all English Teaching Projects. All projects are English Teaching projects spanning from primary to higher secondary level students. It is generally of a TEFL level of educating. The projects in the central plains are in the towns of Tak, Tharua, Nakon Sawan and Uthai Thani. Tharua is the longest running project in Thailand, about to begin its 19th year with volunteers.
The projects are usually set up by either the schools themselves or the local Thesaban (municipalities). Thesaban project volunteers usually work in several of the schools in the area, ranging from primary, monks and secondary. Privately set up projects are exclusive to one school. These are usually Technical Colleges where the level of English is usually quite low and the standard of teachers is lower also as English is not seen as important as other schools may regard it. Many volunteers end up doing secondary projects in their surrounding area as the interest of having a Foreign teacher is high by other schools and are usually invited to do some extra work.