7th December 2011, 11:14 PM
(This post was last modified: 7th December 2011, 11:17 PM by ecmgardner.)
There are various organisations mentioned here mainly IfA, curatorial departments, ALGO and RAOs - as well as passing mention of the Society of Antiquaries. Surely the body that should theoretically be foremost in this kind of discussion and setting and regulating standards as laid down in legislature is English Heritage as an NGO...? (Or whatever happened to APPAG - All Party Parlimentary Archaeology Group?)
Yes I know there's no budget, but I'm all utopian at the moment, so stick with me.
Perhaps on the policing side there could be a relationship similar to OFSTED and the TDA (Training and Development Agency for schools - one of their teams has the remit for working alongside schools deemed to have failed by OFSTED to raise their standards. In a former life when they were known as the TTA I worked in their research department.) It's the old argument though, as without teeth to legally enforce transgression nothing is truly enforceable by any organisation.
It strikes me that all of these various bodies have a preconceived image in the minds of most of us. Some positive, some negative. We're disparate again... What we need is an organisation to unite under with suitable gravitas like the Society of Antiquaries, but not one that causes such a variety of reactions as the IfA tends to. Obviously there's BAJR but a royal charter floated into my head as I thought about it. Would you believe it (because I didn't and I'd never heard of them) there is an organisation called the Royal Archaeological Institute (http://www.royalarchinst.org/) It was founded in 1844 and it's Patron is Her Majesty the Queen. So why have I never heard of them? Is it just me?
P.S. The attached image has nothing to do with what I've just said, I was experimenting at attaching an image as I've never done it before but can't figure out how to delete it.
Yes I know there's no budget, but I'm all utopian at the moment, so stick with me.
Perhaps on the policing side there could be a relationship similar to OFSTED and the TDA (Training and Development Agency for schools - one of their teams has the remit for working alongside schools deemed to have failed by OFSTED to raise their standards. In a former life when they were known as the TTA I worked in their research department.) It's the old argument though, as without teeth to legally enforce transgression nothing is truly enforceable by any organisation.
It strikes me that all of these various bodies have a preconceived image in the minds of most of us. Some positive, some negative. We're disparate again... What we need is an organisation to unite under with suitable gravitas like the Society of Antiquaries, but not one that causes such a variety of reactions as the IfA tends to. Obviously there's BAJR but a royal charter floated into my head as I thought about it. Would you believe it (because I didn't and I'd never heard of them) there is an organisation called the Royal Archaeological Institute (http://www.royalarchinst.org/) It was founded in 1844 and it's Patron is Her Majesty the Queen. So why have I never heard of them? Is it just me?
P.S. The attached image has nothing to do with what I've just said, I was experimenting at attaching an image as I've never done it before but can't figure out how to delete it.