In collaboration with Staffordshire University Business School

AEM
FINAL EXAM
STUDENT COPY

Date: 08/06/2022 Module Code: AEM

Time: 15:30 Weighting: 70%

Duration: 90 minutes Examiner: Stewart Utley

Instructions to candidates
1) You have 90 minutes for this exam including time to upload your submission.
2) Please upload your file as a Microsoft Word File.
3) Please remember your submission will be scanned through Turnitin so please ensure you
reference appropriately and that your work is your own.
4) Use only the sources provided – do not use any external sources.

Refer to at least two extracts (shown overleaf) using the Harvard (Staffordshire) Referencing System.

You will be given extracts from four texts.

You should write a minimum of 250 words.

Remember that you will be marked on the quality of your writing, not the quantity of your work.

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Ensure that you include a reference list at the end of your submission alongside full academic essay
conventions and structure.

Task
Answer the following question:

What are the main arguments for and against students taking a gap year in their studies?

-------------------------------END OF EXAMINATION--------------------------------

Appendix - Sources

Text 1

Authors: Elisa Rose Birch and Paul W Miller

Title: ‘Characteristics of ‘Gap Year’ Students and Their Tertiary Academic Outcomes’

Publication: The Economic Record

Date: September 2007

There have also been several reports that note the benefits of taking a 1-year break between high school and
university (see Holroyd, 1998; Hoover, 2001; Macleod Weeks, 2001; Wilson-Clark, 2001; Brown, 2004;
Taylor, 2004). For example, Brown (2004, p. 11) suggests that gap-year students are perceived to be ‘more
mature, more self-reliant and independent’ than non-gap-year students. Similarly, Holroyd (1998, p. 47)

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indicates that taking a 1-year break between high school and university allows ‘motivation for and interest in
study to be renewed’.

(page 167)

Text 2

Authors: Claire Crawford and Jonathan Cribb

Title: ‘Gap Year Takers: Uptake, Trends and Long Term Outcomes’

Publication: Centre for Analysis of Youth Transitions (CAYT)

Date: 2012

In terms of the long-term consequences of the decision to delay entry into higher education, this section has
shown that gap year takers tend to earn less than those who go straight into higher education, with
significantly lower hourly wages and weekly earnings at age 30, and, to a lesser extent, also at ages 34 and
38. Further investigation of these results suggests that much of this gap is driven by differences in the extent
and timing of potential labour market experience: gap year takers have fewer years following graduation
during which they can reap the returns to their investment in human capital, which matters because it is only
post-graduation – and not pre graduation – labour market experience that appears to be rewarded via higher
wages.

In line with the findings of Birch & Miller (2007), gap year takers are also found to be slightly more likely
to graduate with a first or second class degree compared to those who go straight to HE, particularly once
account is taken of their lower prior attainment.

(page 17)

Text 3

Authors: Kevin Lyons , Joanne Hanley, Stephen Wearing and John Neil

Title: ‘Gap Year Volunteer Tourism: Myths of Global Citizenship?’

Publication: Journal of International Tourism

Date: 2019

A gap year has been defined as a nominal period during which a person delays further education or
employment in order to travel (Millington, 2005). Although this interlude may be experienced at any point
across the lifespan, it is within the period of early adulthood that the gap year phenomenon has become most
popular and commonly it involves a year off after completing secondary school or tertiary studies. Indeed,
taking a gap year break is a far more attractive option to joining the rising tide of the unemployed (Dixon &
Chesshyre, 2008).

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Gap year tourism describes a wide array of activities. Some of these activities have been criticised as
hedonistic (O’Reilly, 2006; Simpson, 2005) such as the popular and sometimes infamous budget coach-
touring through Europe. Other forms of gap year tourism such as longer term independent travel have been
equally criticised as a form of escapism and dropping out (Rojek, 1993; West, 2005). Indeed, one major
commercial travel service provider has branded a gap year as the ‘Big Year Off’.

Despite these criticisms, there is a growing view that taking a nominal ‘year off’ to travel may not be wasted
time and what is notable about gap year marketing more typically is its promotion as something more than a
break. In Australia, for example, where school education runs from Kindergarten to Year 12, some
promoters have gone as far as calling a gap year, ‘Year 13’ (www.youthcentral.vic.gov.au). One Australian
university has suggested that a gap year ‘‘should not be treated as a year off. It will be of most benefit if it is
used to gain a wider experience of the world and of work, to get to know yourself better; your interests,
values, strengths and work-related preferences’’ (www.careers.usyd.edu.au). Another has launched a
program that offers prospective students academic credit for demonstrated learning (using a reflective
journal) during their gap year (www.canberra.edu.au/gap-year-plus/ home).

(page 114)

Text 4

Author: James Headingly

Title: ‘The Possible Value of a Gap Year: A Case Study’

Publication: South African Journal of Higher Education

Date: 2016

In South Africa, concerns have been raised regarding the number of young people leaving the country, and
the issue of the ‘brain drain’ and the mass migration of intelligent young adults can have negative effects on
the country (Robinson 2003, 1). However, opinions exist that, in the case of the gap year, ‘brain circulation’
occurs as opposed to ‘brain drain’; this implies that many young people and professionals return from gap
years abroad with more experience, and with more to offer to their professions (Robinson 2003, 2; Asmal
2004, 1). This in turn allows them to be more effective in their roles at a faster pace than those who have not
had the time to develop these skills.