I've been on a few jobs recently with this methodology, and I was wondering what the BAJR community thought of it. It seems to me to be a licence to make it up as you go along. The WSI is in effect really flexible, and the percentage of the archaeology that you dig depends on how much you find. The more you find, the less you dig. I always thought that you should decide on the methodology before you see the detail. For example, 'dig slots through all ditches'. Surely you ought to do this whether there are 5 or 20 on site.

Does anyone have experience of writing these up? I've been on sites where we were only allowed to dig less than half the relationships. How then do you phase and interpret the site? I appreciate that there are time constraints, but the method of deciding what to dig and what not to seems rather random to me.

An old friend is back!
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadm...=P&P=59512
Which is a response to very fair questions put by Host, i.e. is your course accredited and will you be using your own book as a text book.

The book he talks about has been for sale recently on ebay and on his own website as a serious book...

(Further background can be found here for those unacquainted with the history to this issue: http://www.bajr.org/BAJRForum/topic.asp?...s=Langford)

Does anyone know of a John Wood of the southeast. I have followed his posts on Britarch over the years with intrigue.... Is he for real??

I am off to Spain for a week... I need a rest...

I will be checking in when I can... but be good everyone... and Moderators... keep yer eyes peeled!

[8D]

Another day another WSI?

Somewhere in deepest darkest *****, strange events are occurring on site. Senior members of staff are behaving irresponsibly and putting their own staff in potentially dangerous situations. Has anyone seen or heard about incidents like this? What, if any action was taken? Have managers/H&S reps. been helpful?

I am getting used to the new jobs page format but ask are the Pension, Holiday, Sickpay boxes actually of any use?

I see in the latest round of ASC (Ireland) ads that a licenced site director is entiled to Pension, Holiday and Sickpay. A Senior Report Writer gets Pension and Holiday but no Sickpay, whilst a humble Report Writer gets Pension and Sickpay but no Holiday entitlement.

Well I guess such a confusion of entitlements should keep the archaeological rumour-mill well and truly grinding away.

"All positions include paid leave (20 days a year pro rata , including Bank Holidays)"

From an advert on BAJR from Network.

What exactly is the status of including bank holidays within the statutory minimum of holidays, both as regards the law and IFA guidelines. I know that it used to be fine on both counts (but considered to be bad employment practise) - has the situation changed, or is this bargain basement employment condition still ok?

Not much evidence of shortage of skilled workers forcing up conditions here!

Rumour has it there is currently a labour shortage for skilled site workers which is having the effect of increasing wages. Watch those BAJR ads carefully!

Peter Wardle

Rather short notice, but this has come to me from one of the mailing lists I seem to be on. It might be of interest to users of this forum. Apologies if this has already been posted on another part of BAJR.

___________________________________


The National Occupational Standards and Archaeology

Sheffield 13th June, 2006

The Subject Centre for History, Classics and Archaeology will be holding a workshop to look at the nature and implementation of the National Occupational Standards in Archaeology. The workshop will introduce participants to the nature of the National Occupational Standards in general, and their future developments. Specifically it will also consider the development of the National Occupational Standards in Archaeological Practice and their potential impact both in the teaching of archaeology within the Higher Education sector, and in the provision of National Vocational Qualifications. A major aim of the workshop is to develop a productive dialogue between those involved in the teaching of archaeology in higher education and those involved in the development of professional training in archaeology.

Programme of Speakers

Jo Compton
Independent Consultant for Creative and Cultural Skills Council

"The purpose of the National Occupational Standards and their future development"

Kenneth Aitchison
Head of Professional Development, Institute of Field Archaeologists

"The National Occupational Standards in Archaeology"

John Collis
Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Sheffield

"Using the National Occupational Standards in the teaching of archaeology in the Higher Education Sector"


Kate Geary
Training and Standards Coordinator, Institute of Field Archaeologists

"The National Occupational Standards and the Development of NVQ
Qualifications in Archaeological Practice"


Structured Discussion

There is no charge for the workshop, but pre-registration is essential. To
register please contact archaeology.heacademy@liverpool.ac.uk with your
name, position, institution and any dietary or other requirements.


Dr Anthony Sinclair

Subject Director for Archaeology
Subject Centre for History, Classics and Archaeology
Higher Education Academy

Senior Lecturer in Archaeology
School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology
University of Liverpool

Tel: 0044 - (0)151-794-4391
Fax: 0044 - (0)151-794-5057



Dr Karina Croucher
Archaeology HCA, Higher Education Academy
Archaeology.HEAcademy@liverpool.ac.uk
http://www.hca.HEAcademy.ac.uk/archaeology

SACE, University of Liverpool
Hartley Building
Liverpool L69 3GS

Tel: 0151 794 5039
Fax: 0151 794 5057

Can anyone out there in the archaeological consultancy industry give me an idea what the market rate for entry level consultants is?

I'm not talking entry level fresh out of uni, but entry level after attaining project officer level in commercial archaeology.

For those out there that will rush to accuse me of hypocrisy after my consultant bashing past, I would like to stress that this is for a "friend".