Selected projects
4.19.3 Archaeological employment in the UK: profiling the profession
English Heritage, with the support of CADW: Welsh Historic Monuments, the Environment and Heritage Service (Northern Ireland), and Historic Scotland has (through the Institute of Field Archaeologists) commissioned Landward Archaeology to undertake a survey to provide information about archaeological employment in the United Kingdom. One of English Heritage's primary goals is to support the development of professional infrastructure and skills, and the results of the survey will be used to help develop informed strategies to advance the profession. English Heritage's partners in this initiative are the Institute of Field Archaeologists and the Council for British Archaeology, and the work also enjoys the support and input of the Council for Scottish Archaeology, the Council for British Archaeology Wales, Institute of Professionals, Managers, and Specialists (IPMS), the Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers, ARIA, Standing Committee of Archaeological Unit Managers (SCAUM) and RESCUE.
Every organisation that employs or commissions archaeologists in the UK was invited to contribute to the project by completing a questionnaire on the numbers and types of archaeological posts in existence, and the salaries and benefits of post-holders. Questionnaires were also sent to individual archaeological consultants and archaeological societies. A total of 1290 questionnaires were sent, and responses have been obtained from over 780 of these organisations or individuals (a response rate of 60%). Face-to-face interviews were also arranged with representatives of selected organisations and follow-up phone calls made to organisations that did not respond.
The survey is identifying, for the first time, the range of archaeological jobs that exist in the UK and the numbers employed in each job type'. It is also establishing the range of salaries and the terms and conditions applying to each type of archaeological job.
Questions covered:
- services provided
- number of staff
- past and future staff numbers
- job titles
- contract basis (establishment or project-funded, length of employment, notice entitlement)
- age and gender of post holders
- salary and terms of service
- union recognition
- use of voluntary archaeologists
- use of outside consultants and specialists
Many organisations took advantage of the opportunity to make further comments about any other aspects of archaeological employment in the UK of concern to them, and these are being included as an appendix to the final report. Many issues were raised that are not directly relevant to the specific objectives of the project but to the wider employment picture - comments about training and conditions of service are frequent. The responses provide a greater volume of information than any previous survey; the largest comparable exercise carried out by RESCUE in 1990-91 contacted 137 organisations and received responses from 109.
The results of the survey provide a snapshot of archaeological employment in early 1998, marking a step towards understanding and improving key employment issues in the discipline. The information provided might be instrumental in the creation of a professional career structure. In future, the survey data can be used as a baseline for further studies relating to employment issues, either directly or as a catalyst for new research. The results of the project will be widely disseminated through the publications of English Heritage, the CBA, the IFA and the supporting organisations.