19th February 2009, 10:05 PM
Sparky I am very sympathetic to the situation of any unemployed field archaeologist (having been there myself in the early 1990s, and, frankly, may yet be there again). However I must respond to your comments...
The IfA is a professional institution, not an employer and not a union. Therefore joining the IfA will not immediately change anyone's present employment situation. As an unemployed IfA member you will get "an immediate reduction on their subscription fees from the next available direct debit instalment" (see here). You will also recieve the Jobs Information Bulletin, which as our Host reminds us, is "an alternative UK job service...BAJR and IFA's Jobs Information Service are not competitors, but offer different and complementary services for those seeking archaeological staff or employment" (see here).
In addition to these specific and personal benefits, you also get an organisation that is genuinely bending over backwards to help the sector as a whole... by talking to Government and other bodies, increasing the rigour of standards and guidance, developing programmes for training and skills development, and providing crucial information about the state of the archaeological marketplace.
What more do you expect? For me, the seminar brought home to me the seriousness of the situation for all of us. People were talking about 25% decline in planning applications in the last few months, developers going bust, real issues with skills and archives, a loss of 1 in 12 archaeology jobs in the last 6 months, and a possible 30% contraction of the archaeology sector over the next 12 months. Archaeology is - let's face it - a fairly small leaf blowing about in the bitter winds of global financial collapse.
If this is your understanding then my article may have misrepresented Peter's remarks, for which my apologies both to you and to Peter. I think his remarks about the need to improve accreditation of individuals and organisations within the profession, bringing out the new standards and guidance for curators, using the downturn as a period to improve quality across the profession, engaging with government and raising public awareness were all entirely appropriate to wrap up a day of intensive and wide-ranging discussion hosted by the IfA.
This may be because many archaeologists choose not to join...
[url]http://paulbelford.blogspot.com/"[/url]
Edited due to bizarre coding issues
Quote:quote:I see no reference to anyone in Paul's article suggesting that the IfA will see a way out of this mire if they were to join their ranks... I would suggest that in light of recent and future job losses, as predicted, that the last thing individuals want to do is give their money over to an institution who can do nothing about it. If you are an unemployed archaeologist what really can they do for you?
The IfA is a professional institution, not an employer and not a union. Therefore joining the IfA will not immediately change anyone's present employment situation. As an unemployed IfA member you will get "an immediate reduction on their subscription fees from the next available direct debit instalment" (see here). You will also recieve the Jobs Information Bulletin, which as our Host reminds us, is "an alternative UK job service...BAJR and IFA's Jobs Information Service are not competitors, but offer different and complementary services for those seeking archaeological staff or employment" (see here).
In addition to these specific and personal benefits, you also get an organisation that is genuinely bending over backwards to help the sector as a whole... by talking to Government and other bodies, increasing the rigour of standards and guidance, developing programmes for training and skills development, and providing crucial information about the state of the archaeological marketplace.
What more do you expect? For me, the seminar brought home to me the seriousness of the situation for all of us. People were talking about 25% decline in planning applications in the last few months, developers going bust, real issues with skills and archives, a loss of 1 in 12 archaeology jobs in the last 6 months, and a possible 30% contraction of the archaeology sector over the next 12 months. Archaeology is - let's face it - a fairly small leaf blowing about in the bitter winds of global financial collapse.
Quote:quote:I would argue that Peter Hinton's comments should be reserved for the IFA conference and are inappropriate when the discussion is aimed at the misfortune of our industry and those it employs.
If this is your understanding then my article may have misrepresented Peter's remarks, for which my apologies both to you and to Peter. I think his remarks about the need to improve accreditation of individuals and organisations within the profession, bringing out the new standards and guidance for curators, using the downturn as a period to improve quality across the profession, engaging with government and raising public awareness were all entirely appropriate to wrap up a day of intensive and wide-ranging discussion hosted by the IfA.
Quote:quote:I would also argue that the IfA does not represent our industry as a whole, yet.
This may be because many archaeologists choose not to join...
[url]http://paulbelford.blogspot.com/"[/url]
Edited due to bizarre coding issues