Southampton Man Completes the First NVQ in A

[BAJR Host]

Really glad you took the time to come on here Ben, and once again...good on ya!

It is interesting to see how you got on, and what you got out of it...AND your more than timely comment that it's up to fieldwork groups to provide the opportunity for NVQs.

:face-approve:

You might just become a local hero

"Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage."
Niccolo Machiavelli

[bpj91]

I believe that the bursary scheme (and the EH placements) were being used as a pilot scheme. Obviously, starting from scratch, it was necessary to train some assessors who were learning on the job. Now there are an increasing number of assessors, able both to take on new people and also advise/encourage others to assess, so with a bit of luck it will snowball and continue to grow. I missed the IfA conference, but presumably the qualification was being publicised there and people were being encouraged to get involved.

[Smaze]

First Well done for getting the qualification bpj91, but can some body explain to me the whats the differance between an NVQ now and the City and guild qualifacations in field archaeology that use to run back in the 80's, which were base on vocational training, with assesed work. i think these replaced the old YTS schemes and if i remeber were called NVQ's, level 1 to 3.???

[shovelnomore]

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 The old NVQ was, by its end recognised as being hopelessly out of sync with actual employment practice, and was withdrawn pending the new NVQ, which as a good 8 years or so in the making.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...