Beyond adventure GAP year programme: is it successful in training soft skills?

Abstract

Adventure Gap year programmes are becoming popular globally but there is still little research on their contribution to the development of soft skills of the participants. Using the Beyond Adventure Structured Adventure Gap Year Programme in South Africa, this study used a qualitative research approach where semi-structured interviews were conducted with its 15 participants pre-post (before) and post-test (after) their training to establish whether there was an improvement in soft skills. The results show that participants' facilitation, instructional and organisational skills improved after the Beyond Gap Year training. This study adds to the little research currently found on the potential of Gap year programmes to contribute to soft skills development. The recommendations given may also be useful to the programme designers of the Gap year programmes to improve the content of the programmes for them to fully benefit the participants in developing their soft skills.