Fit for Purpose? Skills and employability in UK archaeology

How do archaeologists learn their trade and what is the role of universities in teaching vocational skills?

Dominic PerringDirector, UCL Centre for Applied Archaeology (incorporating Archaeology South-East)

The problem

A growing gulf between what our universities provide and what archaeological employers need. It is a common complaint that recent archaeology graduates do not have the skills required for archaeological employment.

How realistic is it for us to expect universities to provide essential vocational training?

What is the use of an archaeology degree – and what should employers expect of recent graduates?  

Employers perspective: current degree courses fall short of preparing graduates to work in archaeology … students lack practical field experience and technical expertise, but also the conceptual, analytical and interpretative skills required (Profiling the Profession 2008)

Is it the job of our universities to produce employable archaeologists?

If not, what can employers offer to develop these skills?

The questions we have been asked to answer

My perspective

• Co-ordinator of MA in Field Archaeology (York to 2002) and MA in Field Archaeology Practice (UCL to 2010)

• Director ASE – employing 60 archaeological staff

….. Two disconnected employments …

Where archaeologists learnt their trade

Fieldwork skills:– Volunteers on major projects: 1960s -1980s– MSC programme

Specialist skills: – ‘Finds hut’ and beyond

University education only one part of professional formation

Chitty 1999: Review of training in Professional Archaeology: 90% of professional archaeologists hold degree in archaeology. But … 70% had obtained fieldwork experience as volunteer prior to undergraduate study.

Brookes 2008: number of fieldwork opportunities advertised in the CBA Briefing, Shows the increase in training excavations (black) relative to fieldwork opportunities (white), and the appearance of day and weekend-schools (hatched), for students under greater time and financial constraints

Field training: the needs of the profession

Concerns raised today are hardly new ….

Hardy 1997: survey of fieldworkers:

• 70%: believed field training should be provided by academic institutions

• 66%: believed university training excavations did not ‘provide relevant practical experience for future professional field workers’

UK – teaching of archaeologyUndergraduate teaching (in 1999)• 52 universities and colleges offered

archaeology degree courses• 33 departments offered single honours

archaeology in 69 courses. • 1100 individuals graduated in

archaeology • 10-15% (110-160) intended to pursue a

career in archaeology• Of these a third likely to succeed in

finding a career

Post Graduate teaching9+ Universities offer 14+ ‘practical’ MA courses (excluding building, conservation and u/water) Most have emphasis on post-ex and management

What is a degree in archaeology good for?

• 1500+ students graduate with archaeology degrees each year• Despite falling applications (12.5% fall in 2012) we teach archaeology

to more students than will find employment within the sector.• Profiling Profession = 6500+ professional archaeologists in the UK –

with 300 jobs advertised annually. • At best archaeological employers in the UK will provide careers for

15% of archaeology graduates. • University degree has become a pre-requisite for archaeological

employment, but not a sufficient condition to gain such employment.

‘The undergraduate degree is not a vocational qualification … it provides training for students who want a general degree strong in transferable skills’ (Chitty 1999)

Universities and fieldwork training

Diverse approaches to fieldwork training:– 25%: either no fixed policy, or no requirement. – Rest: most require 4 or 6 weeks

Wide range of approaches to delivery and assessment

Fieldwork training • Fieldwork should be an essential component of archaeological education• Students need to understand how archaeological data are created• Fieldwork offers an introduction into the relationship between data and theory

in archaeological research

Most undergraduate training is about giving students an appreciation of the range of skills involved, not about making them competent as field archaeologists

It is also about developing research skills (source criticism).

Problems in meeting that objective:

• With increasing student numbers and an expanding range of skills involved in archaeological fieldwork, it is ever more difficult to provide field training

Outcome based teaching Fieldwork: as part of the learning cycle• Kolb’s experiential learning theory: ‘Learning is the process whereby

knowledge is created through the transformation of experience’ focuses on cyclical nature of learning: involving four stages:

– Abstract Conceptualisation THINK– Active Experimentation PLAN– Concrete Experience DO– Reflective Observation OBSERVE

Intended learning outcomes include:

• Knowledge and understanding• Cognitive skills• Subject specific practical & professional skills• Key transferable skills• Progression to employment & further study• Personal development.

Brookes 2008: student learning, rather than professional- led skills development, is central:

• Training excavations are where students are forced to negotiate between professional and academic cultures, between the positivist and the reflexive

• This perceived dualism within archaeology misrepresents the skills and achievements valued by the wider workplace, namely graduates with generic skills of cognition and collaboration

• Archaeology curricula should be concerned with promoting the development of core (literacy, numeracy, etc.) and process skills such as abstraction, problem-solving, team-work

• Fieldwork should also be designed to bolster students personal qualities, as well as their capacity for action

What does the commercial sector need?

Changing nature of archaeological work with increased needs of specialist skills

Archaeology Training Forum: “There is no common or core group of competencies that we could say is essential for everyone entering the profession.”

Skills gaps identified in Profiling the Profession:– historic building survey– geophysical survey– desk-based research and assessment– conservation of artefacts – artefact research– ecofact research

More general concerns– Research and writing skills– Understanding of the context in which archaeological

work is undertaken

Some concerns of the professional sector

• Lack of a structured route from education into professional practice • lack of accreditation of vocational elements in post graduate &

undergraduate courses. • loss of opportunities for voluntary field experience as a prelude to

professional working• Opportunities for work experience limited and unregulated.  

Measures advocated include: – assisted programmes of professional placements – well-signposted routes from higher education

(with accredited elements)– training integrated with work experience.– long term research projects designed to provide

training in vocational skills and as laboratories for developing techniques and practice

– strengthening of opportunities for training with amateur & independent groups.

Current approaches to vocational training

Archaeology Training Forum (IFA) argues for ‘new occupational standards as the basis for developing a range of postgraduate courses… that are carefully structured to meet the vocational training needs of the sector’

Two means by which learning can be delivered in the workplace: informally, through mentoring in a structured way through apprenticeships

IFA running two linked schemes, Workplace Learning Bursaries and EPPIC

Some points in conclusion– There is a necessary distinction to be drawn

between vocational and non-vocational training

– UK undergraduate degrees are not vocational, although some postgraduate courses provide a vehicle for professional specialisation

– University fieldwork teaching should involve research projects supported by an educational plan

– The full training of archaeologists takes place in the work-place, and involves following research-driven projects to their conclusion