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10th October 2005, 05:21 PM
I think I'd agree with the list, but there is considerable cross over between the branches: a number of units who advertise they can do fieldwork also act as consultants and specialists early in their careers may also do fieldwork.
As to the CPD, I am in favour of 'on the job' training certainly, but why can't university courses make allowances for sandwich years with units or consultancies etc. This is commonplace with other professions who archaeologists deal with (engineers, environmental consultants spring to mind), and would be relatively simple to implement. Certainly a number of university courses already require placements as part of the degree completion requirements, this would just be a more involved extention.
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10th October 2005, 05:58 PM
Barnesy,
I agree that the universities could solve this issue themselves, but they don't seem to be doing so, so I was looking for a solution that did not depend on them.
I know that some unis do use placements; in fact, it was while interviewing students for a possible placement with my company that I first became aware of how badly the unis cover this area. In an interview for work with a consultancy company, none of the student interviewees knew what PPG16 was or had heard of either the concept of planning permission or Environmental Impact Assessment.
In any case, a placement only teaches you about one branch of the profession. If you do a placement with a unit, and then go off to work as a field archaeologist, you can do so without any real idea what a curator or a consultant is.
Any on-the-job CPD type training should complement rather than conflict anything done by the unis, but would still work even if they do nothing.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished
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10th October 2005, 06:20 PM
Eek. I have to confess to not having dealt with a graduate who was unaware of PPG16. I have been spoilt with the standard of my diggers.
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11th October 2005, 10:05 AM
Quote:quote:Originally posted by Barnesy
I am in favour of 'on the job' training certainly, but why can't university courses make allowances for sandwich years with units or consultancies etc. This is commonplace with other professions who archaeologists deal with (engineers, environmental consultants spring to mind), and would be relatively simple to implement.
It's been a long time since I was a student and although it wasn't (and I presume still isn't) compulsory, Bradford has always offered a four year degree course with a sandwich/placement year. I must add at this point, that I chose not to take the placement option as I'd already got quite a lot of experience by the time I got there, however, I have regretted it ever since. It would have been a great oportunity to get experience in something else like SMR/HER work or consultancy (very new at the time).
S
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11th October 2005, 10:10 AM
Ops! I'm not sure what's going on but this thread seems to be cloned from the original "Starting afresh" one.
S
[?]
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15th October 2005, 11:01 PM
Plenty of room Sith....
Anyone thought of offering degrees in:
1.archaeological curatorship
2.heritage consultancy
3.BA/BSc ceramic/metallic/lithic etc analysis
4.archaeological draughtmanship (his/her)
5.archaeological geofizz
6.archaeological law
[?][?][?]
p.s Good to see that Bournemouth University are offering degrees in Field Archaeology!
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16th October 2005, 08:36 PM
Tiz a good thing-have heard of the course and have heard good reviews. Only problem I can see is that hapless students will have to go and get into another 8 grand or so debt. Whilst the MSc is a good idea-why are undergrad degrees not tuned to specific career routes?
I also believe it may be time for internships-increasing a 3 year undergrad to 4.
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19th October 2005, 01:00 AM
Beer beast your point well made. I wonder how many students have a speciality in mind even after 2years. Could be part of the problem or lack of discussion with tutors?
omnsd
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19th October 2005, 09:17 AM
Hmm, missed this one before. I also do not see how students can be expected to know what they really want while doing their first degree. It's only at the post-grad level that you start to specialise and I am inclined to say that that is how it should stay. But the first degree really does need to make students aware of their options, and that is where my thoughts expressed on the other thread fit in. If commercial archaeologists are engaged in the academic world, they can help to make students aware and the students can then make an informed decision. On the other hand, universities seem to be uniformly useless at providing career advice so I hold out little hope at the moment.
Cheers,
Eggbasket
Gentleman Adventurer and Antiquarian
Manners maketh the man
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19th October 2005, 10:00 AM
I seem to remember having guest lectures from unit directors at Bournemouth while I was there doing my degree, and I think realistically this is a good place to start. If each units could afford to lend a PO for one hour to the nearest uni course, there could be a nice flow of real world archaeological info coming into the academics/field archaeologists of the morrow. Most units, and certainly RAOs, should be geared up for some sort of outreach so this shouldn't be too complicated....
(I really have worked in the field[:0])
