This is a very poignant point at the moment in the commercial world, combined with the 'skills drain' caused by a lack of work and many experienced diggers realising that they can earn far more dirving dustbin lorries etc.
Personally I have noticed a dramatic change in the level of archaeological skills in the diggers I get assigned to my excavations. There was a time when I was almost the least experienced digger on the site, and had to draw on and trusted the skills of my team. But now I find myself having to constantly check even the absolute basics of say for instance how to measure the dimensions of a pit, or how to use a level correctly, and with little formal time allowed for training, I'm constantly behind on site.
Because of this I've pushed for the need for more formal assessment and training of diggers skills on-site and the need for this extra time to be factored into the project designs and budgets. This will probably mean (especially in this era of budget squeezing) that there will be less time alloted to actual digging a site and little bits of information will be lost. But at least it will benefit the diggers.
It will take time for this to filter out onto site and become common practice (on our jobs) but I see this as a positive step.
It doesn't bridge the initial university to commertial digger gap though, but I (and many others) see that as a fault in the university system.
Oh and almost forgot to say we are very interested in the 'skills pasport system' and wait in bated breath for it to emerge.
Personally I have noticed a dramatic change in the level of archaeological skills in the diggers I get assigned to my excavations. There was a time when I was almost the least experienced digger on the site, and had to draw on and trusted the skills of my team. But now I find myself having to constantly check even the absolute basics of say for instance how to measure the dimensions of a pit, or how to use a level correctly, and with little formal time allowed for training, I'm constantly behind on site.
Because of this I've pushed for the need for more formal assessment and training of diggers skills on-site and the need for this extra time to be factored into the project designs and budgets. This will probably mean (especially in this era of budget squeezing) that there will be less time alloted to actual digging a site and little bits of information will be lost. But at least it will benefit the diggers.
It will take time for this to filter out onto site and become common practice (on our jobs) but I see this as a positive step.
It doesn't bridge the initial university to commertial digger gap though, but I (and many others) see that as a fault in the university system.
Oh and almost forgot to say we are very interested in the 'skills pasport system' and wait in bated breath for it to emerge.