3rd May 2012, 07:58 PM
The trust issue does have relevance: technically nowhere in our charitable aims does it say that there should be paid staff - it would theoretically be possible for all its aims to be achieved without employees. Of course always has had staff, but philosophically employing staff can never become the raison d'etre.
The issue of apprenticeships and internships and their impact on early career archaeologists is less relevant: our experience of our Arfordir coastal erosion management project which trained groups of volunteers to undertake regular site visits has shown that there is a pool of people out there who are interested in archaeology are willing to give up some of their time to help, without any expectation that this is a pathway to a professional post.
On the broader issue of funding for HERs, to me the simplest solution would be for them to become a statutory duty paid for by taxes. There are reasons why this hasn't happened, political or Political, and instead there is a patchwork of funding streams that delivers some sort of service - and that funding comes with a set of priorities that would not necessarily be ours if we were given a free hand. That's not a complaint, just an observation.
The issue of apprenticeships and internships and their impact on early career archaeologists is less relevant: our experience of our Arfordir coastal erosion management project which trained groups of volunteers to undertake regular site visits has shown that there is a pool of people out there who are interested in archaeology are willing to give up some of their time to help, without any expectation that this is a pathway to a professional post.
On the broader issue of funding for HERs, to me the simplest solution would be for them to become a statutory duty paid for by taxes. There are reasons why this hasn't happened, political or Political, and instead there is a patchwork of funding streams that delivers some sort of service - and that funding comes with a set of priorities that would not necessarily be ours if we were given a free hand. That's not a complaint, just an observation.