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27th April 2010, 01:36 PM
Dirty Boy Wrote:I think I'd like to see the IFA carry on its good work producing standards and guidance and focus on that, but also ensure that units follow these - I've yet to see evidence that RAO = good unit. I think pay and conditions are better handled by a union, but I also wouldn't like to see the IFA drop their minima pay scheme.
I agree with this, but minima enforced by a chartered IFA would be a good start too. Also, if the IFA were chartered and you had to be an RAO to do archaeological work then the standards would be more readily enforceable, so, in theory, RAO ought to equal a good unit under those circumstances.
Quote:For unemployed archaeologists could the IFA provide cheap courses spread around the country?
Yes please.
Quote:(Sadly i did work at a unit where all sites were shut down for a day every 3 months and we all had a chat from a specialist on these areas. Sadly I was the only member of staff who didn't complain about this, and thought it was a really worthwhile experience 
).
Sounds familiar. I have lost count of the number of times we have been given training and most of the people involved have whinged about having to attend this training because it was not the training they wanted or was not glamorous enough. It's almost as if a lot of people just do not want to be happy!
'Reality,' sa molesworth 2, 'is so unspeakably sordid it make me shudder.'
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27th April 2010, 01:44 PM
Odinn Wrote:Sounds familiar. I have lost count of the number of times we have been given training and most of the people involved have whinged about having to attend this training because it was not the training they wanted or was not glamorous enough. It's almost as if a lot of people just do not want to be happy!
Tell me about it. It was the first "official" training I'd had in 3 years in the business, and was really useful - (I'd never seen neolithic or bronze age pottery before that point). It might not have been the most "exciting" training in world , but damn useful and full marks to the unit for looking to provide training for their site staff.
Hell, I've just completed 2 weeks processing samples in the environmental warehouse. Glamarous? No. Most peeps I know would see it as a punishment. BUT, I have had a lot of fun and have taken the opportunity to learn more about enviro archaeology and how the process works. Hoping my on-site sample sheets now improve as a result.:face-approve:
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27th April 2010, 02:06 PM
This sounds like you are making the most of the situation, which in itself should be rewarded. I remember myself giving an onsite offer to show how to excavate a skeleton, nobody bothered... went off to have a swim instead. (perhaps it was me
) However, with the hopeful introduction of Skills passports in 2012... these activities will be more useful, where learning = responsibility = value = progression.
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27th April 2010, 02:13 PM
BAJR Wrote:This sounds like you are making the most of the situation, which in itself should be rewarded. I remember myself giving an onsite offer to show how to excavate a skeleton, nobody bothered... went off to have a swim instead. (perhaps it was me ) However, with the hopeful introduction of Skills passports in 2012... these activities will be more useful, where learning = responsibility = value = progression.
Ta
Skills passports? Need I look on the IFA website again?
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27th April 2010, 03:09 PM
nope... this is a joint venture with Uni of Manchester and BAJR ... still a wee bit to go yet
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27th April 2010, 04:56 PM
That going to result in people turning up for jobs who actually know how to dig/record? - all for it :face-approve:
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27th April 2010, 05:04 PM
[quote=Dirty Boy] (I'd never seen neolithic or bronze age pottery before that point). It might not have been the most "exciting" training in world ,
[QUOTE]
I don't understand. Neolthic and Bronze Age pottery, you say? How can that possibly not be exciting?
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27th April 2010, 07:03 PM
I used to be a fan of the idea that the IfA should go for chartered status and by implication presume its members to be 'licenced' to undertake archaeological work but I have changed my mind?
I now think the way to control archaeology (standards and ethics), to improve terms and conditions of employment and to put a brake on the number of professional practitioners of archaeology is to franchise a limited number of archaeological undertakings. These undertakings will work within a fixed price set-up for the type of work they offer, will offer a national fixed scale of payments for archaeological work (be it wages or fess) and will work either within a fixed geographic area or to a specific archaeological specialism or specialisms.
Does this leave a role for the IfA? Yes, but I'm not to sure what that role is. This should be an embarassing admission by someone who has been a member of the IfA for close on 25 years, but fortunately I find myself in the company of several hundred/thousand other IfA members who are also unsure as to why and what they are members of.... :I
With peace and consolation hath dismist, And calm of mind all passion spent...
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27th April 2010, 08:04 PM
kevin wooldridge Wrote:...I now think the way to control archaeology (standards and ethics), to improve terms and conditions of employment and to put a brake on the number of professional practitioners of archaeology is to franchise a limited number of archaeological undertakings. These undertakings will work within a fixed price set-up for the type of work they offer, will offer a national fixed scale of payments for archaeological work (be it wages or fess) and will work either within a fixed geographic area or to a specific archaeological specialism or specialisms....
How would all that work in the merry world of commercial archaeology where we're all at the whim of variations in the construction industry and jobs can't be planned from one week to the next?
Or are you suggesting binning all that and going back effectively to county units funded from a central source, like in the 'good old days'? Who would pay, and if you're suggesting taxing the construction industry etc how would you guarantee a suffiently stable cash-flow to support the system? Franchises have been suggested before (such ideas seemingly eminating ultimately from certain large southern units who think they would be able to divide up the country between them by wiping out the competition) and, after some consideration, not given much credence? :face-huh:
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27th April 2010, 08:08 PM
the invisible man Wrote:I don't understand. Neolthic and Bronze Age pottery, you say? How can that possibly not be exciting?
You obviously don't get some of the barely-fired undercorated soggy cardboard stuff we often have to deal with up north, and anyway, it can get pretty boring after the first few kilos :face-stir:
