Skills Passport Scheme

[CARTOON REALITY]

Do any other professions carry this sort of document?

[BAJR]

They sort of... though this is complicated by the nature of our profession... ie

Archaeological Illustrator
Archaeological Surveyor
Archaeological Lithic Specialist
Archaeological Fieldworker

there is a similar thing with a military document...

but as there is no real "archaeologist"! only types of archaeologists, it has been a challenge...

oh yes!

[Sith]

there is a similar thing with a military document...

These days military skills and qualifications are recorded electronically on the Joint Personnel Administration system (JPA). Except when they're not; I discovered yesterday that a number of quite important ones seem to have disappeared from my record.
:0

[Dinosaur]

How are you going to tackle the capabilities of the 'examiners' in all this? - have had several recent experiences of people with superb CVs and references and apparently highly regarded by other units who hadn't the faintest idea of basic skills like e.g. finding proper edges (presumably products of the 'lego-brick' school of archaeology, just dig the obvious soily top fill and move on)...presumably their skills passports would have been as glowing as their other documentation? :face-thinks:

[Sith]

How are you going to tackle the capabilities of the 'examiners' in all this?

I must say that this was the area that vexed me too. Given that we're talking about archaeology and archaeologists, it's going to be nigh on impossible to find assessors whos opinions will be worth a foetid dingo's kidney to anyone else in the profession.

[kevin wooldridge]

I must say that this was the area that vexed me too. Given that we're talking about archaeology and archaeologists, it's going to be nigh on impossible to find assessors whos opinions will be worth a foetid dingo's kidney to anyone else in the profession.

I don't see that a sign-off on a Skills Passport is any more or less open to question than a written or verbal reference given as part of a job application. If the person reviewing the application has a greater or lesser opinion of a reference from J.Bloggs of Borsetshire Archaeology over F. Bloggs from Deep-City Digging, that would be their prejudice irrespective of a skills passport or not.

Unless I have totally misunderstood the scheme, surely the point of a skills passport is to be certain that new entrants to the profession have acquired the basic elements of filed skill; those we all tend to believe are not taught in universities. Anything more than that is verging into the territory of professional qualifications.....not that I'd be against those, but I am not sure that the profession as a whole would be willing to bear the cost. And either way we would still have to accept that most of the current incumbents of archaeological posts could not be asked to 'requalify' for their posts, irrespective of how disparaging anyone might be of their current skills or less than obvious talents.

[Wax]

I must say that this was the area that vexed me too. Given that we're talking about archaeology and archaeologists, it's going to be nigh on impossible to find assessors whos opinions will be worth a foetid dingo's kidney to anyone else in the profession.

To work it is going to have to validate the validators

Thinking about it the person who has the best knowledge of my skills set is the County Mounty who I am quite sure would be happy to sign a skills passport for me. However I can see that opening all sorts of cans of worms for all concerned.

Looks like what we need is a licencing system and professional training courses and examinations that give us a series of professional qualifications not worthless degrees and Noddy NVQs :face-stir:

[kevin wooldridge]

To work it is going to have to validate the validators....Looks like what we need is a licencing system and professional training courses and examinations that give us a series of professional qualifications not worthless degrees and Noddy NVQs

If we have licencing and professional training courses with examinations, a 'Skills Passport' is an irrelevance. What instead you have is basically the IfA proposal on Chartered Membership with the Skills Passport effectively becoming your CPD log. My previous point stands that neither scheme can be enforced on the current generation(s) of archaeologists, without some kind of dispensation (probably self-certified).

[BAJR]

The scheme as far as I am concerned is for students plus... starting you off into the market. you should then be gaining more skills and keeping a CPD log ( you are doing that aren't you)

The first wave will indeed be self validated... but hey... sheet happens... and this is a short lived act... which soon balances itself out. ie... if I see no evidence of survey taking place within the last 3 years... I am hardly likely to employ you as a surveyor. So this is not the panacea for all ills... it is a leg of a stool. CPD ---- Passport ----- CV put them together and you can have confidence in personnel. as to self employed. well that is the same as anyone else. I go out on training with a dendrochronologist and I get signed off...

REMEMBER this does not mean that you are the best ---insert skill ---- there is -- it means you have done it, and either understood it just -- understood it with help --- understood it. I would like to see people use it as a guide to where they want to go, and for companies to use it as a guide to what the person is capable of.

Skills passport just confirms a level of practical experience.....

BINGO!! thanks for that strapline Kevin

[Dinosaur]

Hopefully it won't follow the race-to-the-bottom 'level playing field' (/dumbing down) mentality that seems to be infecting most areas of archaeology/life these days - you can tell a shovel from a spade in the tool-shed (and I've worked with 'experienced' diggers who didn't know there was a difference and had to have it explained...) so you're a competent digger...yer basic CSCS card test is a good example, a slug could pass that, hardly proof you're safe to get out of bed let alone be on site...