17th April 2011, 09:03 AM
The Southport Groups presentation at the conference was very interesting, but very much a presentation of two halves, with potentially conflicting ideas. Most of the second half of the presentation concerned raising standards, creating universal standards, accreditation, the possibility of charter all good and serious points. However, the first half was concerned with incorporating local groups and volunteers into commercial archaeology, and here in my opinion the problems started.
Public involvement, as anyone who sat through the session will tell you, was very high on the agenda. This was placed under improving practice but in fact has very little or nothing to do with it. Public participation, in essence this means amateurs and volunteers will be working in commercial archaeology. This is the Big Society pushed into the private sector, not even David Cameron has espoused this. It will mean the IfA will write this into its code of practice that Registered Organisations must follow. Companies that do not embrace such volunteers will face being struck from the IfA Registered Organisation list, something that at the moment not only gains them work but ensures that they can work in certain areas.
Being forced to use unpaid volunteers can only mean one thing, cuts across the board affecting field staff. In real terms this means; less real field jobs, less opportunity for real jobs in the sector and lower wages to accompany those jobs, forced down by the use of unpaid volunteers. The knock on effect as field staff are replaced by volunteers will be an increase in the loss of skills within the sector, something that has been an IfA concern for years. The section of the report concerning local groups and volunteers will not improve practice in any way but contribute to a deprofessionalisation of archaeology, and this is really only the tip of the iceberg.
Unfortunately the feeling I got from the conference presentation was that their proposals were already set in stone and the consultation was little more than lip service. I hope I am wrong and would urge all to read the report and send in comments it is your future career that will be affected.
Public involvement, as anyone who sat through the session will tell you, was very high on the agenda. This was placed under improving practice but in fact has very little or nothing to do with it. Public participation, in essence this means amateurs and volunteers will be working in commercial archaeology. This is the Big Society pushed into the private sector, not even David Cameron has espoused this. It will mean the IfA will write this into its code of practice that Registered Organisations must follow. Companies that do not embrace such volunteers will face being struck from the IfA Registered Organisation list, something that at the moment not only gains them work but ensures that they can work in certain areas.
Being forced to use unpaid volunteers can only mean one thing, cuts across the board affecting field staff. In real terms this means; less real field jobs, less opportunity for real jobs in the sector and lower wages to accompany those jobs, forced down by the use of unpaid volunteers. The knock on effect as field staff are replaced by volunteers will be an increase in the loss of skills within the sector, something that has been an IfA concern for years. The section of the report concerning local groups and volunteers will not improve practice in any way but contribute to a deprofessionalisation of archaeology, and this is really only the tip of the iceberg.
Unfortunately the feeling I got from the conference presentation was that their proposals were already set in stone and the consultation was little more than lip service. I hope I am wrong and would urge all to read the report and send in comments it is your future career that will be affected.