22nd April 2009, 10:20 PM
The difference is a completely new set of standards that are properly aligned to the level of competence expected in the relevant skills. The old NVQ was, by its end recognised as being hopelessly out of sync with actual employment practice, and was withdrawn pending the new NVQ, which as a good 8 years or so in the making.
What interests me would be to see the way in which the standards divide digging work from supervison and project management responsibilities. From memory (I read them when I applied to be an assessor, but having lost my currency can't really be bothered to check again) there was quite a clear split across the levels. The concept that someone mooted on this forum a while back was that perhaps a two-tier system of professional (PM, consultancy- entered by degree) and technical (digger, surveyor- entered by NVQ) was beginning to emerge, aligning the accepted notion of how an archaeological career progresses with that of other technical professions/disciplines. This certainly seems to be the case with the bursaries and EH placements, which seem to be more closely aligned to traditional ideas of 'graduate' jobs leading to professional careers than it was in the good old days...
What interests me would be to see the way in which the standards divide digging work from supervison and project management responsibilities. From memory (I read them when I applied to be an assessor, but having lost my currency can't really be bothered to check again) there was quite a clear split across the levels. The concept that someone mooted on this forum a while back was that perhaps a two-tier system of professional (PM, consultancy- entered by degree) and technical (digger, surveyor- entered by NVQ) was beginning to emerge, aligning the accepted notion of how an archaeological career progresses with that of other technical professions/disciplines. This certainly seems to be the case with the bursaries and EH placements, which seem to be more closely aligned to traditional ideas of 'graduate' jobs leading to professional careers than it was in the good old days...