CPDs

[Betts_Fan]

Thank you BuntyFlirt!

[BuntyFlint]

You're welcome : )

[Betts_Fan]

*Goes to read*

[Boxoffrogs]

The IfA liked my CPD & PDP.... :face-smart:

[troll]

I wholeheartedly accept those comments on my post. I have to say though, that comparing the archaeology industry with the architecture or engineering world is a bit spurious. In our little empire, permanent staff are comparitavely few. Those units that do hold permanent staff should clearly be motivated to provide assets with continuing professional development as it would be in their interests to do so. Not all commercial enterprises can afford to allocate the time and the costs involved in such endeavours. In terms of numbers, I would argue that the majority of workers in archaeology are those taken on with short-term and temporary contracts. In the 13 years that I have been working in archaeology, I have been sent on one (half day) course. Whilst I admit that the course provided a form of accreditation (of more gravitas than conference attendence) I feel that asking me to produce a CPD log would be akin to my writing a wish list.
I understand that the IfA has the goal of `professionalising` the industry and applaud that sentiment but......we need to learn how to walk before we run. CPD`s are a fine concept for permanent staff in an environment where employers are motivated to invest in their assets but are a tad pointless for someone like myself who (up until the latest disasters) has worked full-time uninterrupted for 13 years on temporary contracts for over 55 different employers.

[Betts_Fan]

Ah, now this all makes sense

[the invisible man]

Fair enough Troll, but I would hazard that during your 13 years you have read journals and papers, probably been to conferences and seminars, and learned various bits and bobs like perhaps the use of new kit - gps, digital photgraphy, to drive, or whatever. It's all CPD and the onus is not entirely on the employer. Of course a good employer should enter into the spirit of the thing and do what is possible to help people with it, but I agree that the problems you describe exist. They also exist in other professions actually, many if not most practices employ a core of permanent staff and hire/fire contract staff with teh ebb and flow of the boom/bust cycle of construction related activities.

[Mander]

In my understanding, the CPD/PDP thing is just the start of what is envisioned as a wider ongoing process to enhance the professionalism of the field as a whole, and is linked to the IFA's "chartered" idea. In other fields (architecture, surveying, nursing, etc. etc.) they have a more formal and recognized career progression with a core set of skills that someone who calls themselves a professional can be expected to have.

At the moment, anyway, it's really just a framework for setting out what your goals are and keeping track of what you have done to improve your skills. There's really nothing sinister about it, IMHO, and I imagine that there isn't actually much effort or money being put into checking the logs beyond what is normally part of standards compliance and applying for a corporate membership grade. It's all part of the overall effort to encourage a culture change in archaeology, whereby you actually *do* expect to get on-the-job training in specific skills, or get sent to specialized courses, etc., like they do in other professions. In its current incarnation it is a very free-form process and you can include pretty much anything that enhances your skills, starting from wherever you are at, which is why something like watching Time Team re-runs can count. For all their faults they can be useful in giving an introduction to a particular kind of site or era that you might not be familiar with.

I went to the IFA conference this week and attended both a CPD workshop and a presentation by Andrea Bradley and Kate Geary on the topic of workplace learning, which made it clear that the CPD/PDP is intended to be a tool to help you set out goals and enhance your understanding, rather than a barrier to keep people out of the IFA and archaeology in general. It's also just a part of the IFA's longer-term goals for raising standards, increasing training, and making archaeology a sustainable profession.

In a case like yours, Troll, the idea would be that any time you spend a couple of hours learning something new, you put it on the CPD log. It doesn't have to be formal training. And it doesn't matter if you split your time between employers, the important bit is acquiring a new skill. So you can log an hour here and an hour there. And if you decide that a particular goal isn't going to work anymore, you can drop it -- just make a note of why you changed your mind. The hours you spent on it still count against your required 50 hours in two years.

[troll]

Thanx Manda.....and everyone else too. Have started to write cpd!!!!!! It`s goin to be huuuuuuuuuuge!

[Gilraen]

Interesting to read these comments and glad that most see CPD logs as an important part of their career. If you haven't ever written one, then I think if you do, once you sit down and write it, you become surprised at what you know and what you have learned over the years. Employer input and expense does not always come from paid-for courses and seminars. Indeed, learning things on the job (using a piece of survey equipment, graphics software, best ways digging a certain type of soil or archaeology, etc) is as valuable to what you learn and know.

The best way (in my opinion, other people's may differ) is to have 5 headings:

1. Date (many of mine, however, just say 'ongoing' here, but it's good to add the dates as to when you wrote Heading 2)
2. Development. What is your main goals? For example: 'Health & Safety knowledge'; 'Develop my excavation skills'; 'Raise academic standing'; 'Improve supervisory knowledge and experience', etc. By no means exhaustive and this can be tailored for the individual.
3. Training and Development. This is where you put what you have done - ie, under 'Health & Safety' put '..Red Cross training course, 2 days, or 'spoke at seminar at blah-blah conference' under 'Raise Academic standing' or 'Supervisor X at XX company gave on-the-job advice and training about how to complete a complicated harris matrix' under 'Improve excavation knowledge'.
4. Time - this quantifies it and helps when the IfA need to see how much you've done - anything from half an hour here to days. I think teh IfA requires 50 hours in a 2-day period?
5. Comments/Follow Up. Put some extra goals you haven't done yet here, or any notes on anything you want to explore further - this is for you as opposed to anyone else really.

I know that people have developed their own style, and not teaching anyone to suck eggs here, but this method of log seems to work for me and I think is a lot better than listing a lot of stuff as it quantfies and defines the reason for the 'training' (or rather 'learning' by linking it to your main goals in your career and where you want to be and what you want to do.