Issue 93
March/April 2007
Contents
news
Police station had old rifles in foundations
Why did hunter-gatherers dig row of pits in Scotland?
Child's boot and bible found in chimney
Demand to rebury 'Druid' child
features
Let the games begin!
Dan Garner and Tony Wilmot found footprints and a sword at Chester amphitheatre
The nomads of Wessex
Andrew J Lawson finds inspiration in central Asia
Heating flint in Boston Spa
Malcolm Barnes describes an intriguing community experiment
on the web
letters
CBA news
ISSN 1357-4442
Editor Mike Pitts
CBA news
Don Henson considers archaeology in education
New initiatives in the world of education, with regular reviews of the curriculum and qualifications, seem to occur almost every year. This may be unsettling for teachers and universities: but it can present opportunities for archaeology.
The Department for Education and Skills launched the manifesto for learning outside the classroom on November 28, calling for greater learning opportunities for children and young people in England (www.teachernet.gov.uk/teachingandlearning/resourcematerials/outsideclassroom). The Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) supports this with Engaging Places, designed to enhance built environment education. This is being piloted in the south-east, Greater London, and Yorkshire and the Humber. The built environment is explicitly recognised as being both contemporary and historic, and using the historic environment for learning will be an important part of this initiative. I am involved through being the education coordinator for Heritage Link, representing the wider voluntary heritage sector. In that capacity, I am chair of the Yorkshire and Humber regional panel for the Engaging Places pilot (with a seat on the national advisory panel).
Other opportunities include the revision of the 5–14 Scottish curriculum guidelines. The Council for Scottish Archaeology, through its assistant director Fiona Davidson, has been asked by the Scottish Executive Education Department to introduce archaeology into new teacher guidance, and show how it can contribute to a wide range of learning, not just as an add-on to history. The positive response from seed is heartening and shows that the educational benefits of archaeological approaches and the study of real remains of the past is beginning to be understood.
Of course schools and colleges can teach archaeology only if they have teachers who know about the subject. Too few have any real knowledge of, or background in, archaeology: yet some universities and colleges refuse to accept archaeology graduates as trainee teachers. To help put this right, the CBA will be distributing an information pack (written by Julie Ward and David Walmsley) to teacher training institutions, to persuade them of the merits of accepting archaeology graduates on pgce courses. This has been made possible by funding from the Higher Education Academy and the Training and Development Agency for Schools.
Some major changes are being introduced in English education from 11–19. The key stage 3 curriculum is being comprehensively rewritten, and a draft of the new study programmes from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority is eagerly awaited. The intention is to be a lot less prescriptive about subject content, to allow teachers greater flexibility. The CBA is hoping that this will provide a place for British prehistory within teaching at 11–14 in history, something effectively excluded at present. At 14+ new AS/A level specifications are being devised for all subjects, to replace the current six unit specifications with four units. This will be followed by the creation of new GCSEs.
Archaeology will have its own AS/A level, which will continue to be a highly attractive qualification, offering a wide range of skills. There is unfortunately no prospect of reviving the now defunct GCSE archaeology. The CBA is talking to the QCA about the new GCSEs, and will work hard to ensure that archaeology or heritage can find a place within subjects like history. The historic environment and archaeological evidence can be used already within GCSE history specifications that follow the model of the schools history project. The current GCSE history pilot is being taught in a range of schools to test new ways of teaching history and helping pupils prepare for work in heritage. This includes an archaeology option module, and it is to be hoped that the lessons from this pilot can be included in the range of new history GCSEs.
Sadly, the opportunities provided by new qualifications at 14–19 may not be taken up in further education colleges. Funding for the FE sector has concentrated on vocational qualifications for under-19s. AS/A level archaeology is seen by some colleges as an adult leisure course, and risks being cut. This would be a tragedy, as it would restrict the ability of many adults to return to learning in later life, and the opportunities for people to move into an archaeology career some time after leaving school. This funding pattern mirrors what has been happening for some time in the university continuing education sector, where traditional evening class courses in subjects like archaeology and local history are not financially attractive enough to university administrators. Since 1999 there has been a 26% decline in the number of universities offering archaeology, an estimated decline of 21% in courses, and a 49% decline in locations where these courses are offered. Fortunately, the growth in community archaeology projects and posts has filled some of the gaps that have emerged in engaging with local societies and groups, once the mainstay of university-based courses.
The number of universities teaching full-time archaeology remains high. On the one hand, places like University of Wales Newport have stopped offering archaeology, and departments of archaeology elsewhere are being restructured. On the other hand, Aberdeen University will shortly be advertising for staff to begin teaching full-time archaeology for the first time. There are still 52 departments at 41 universities that offer some archaeology content at undergraduate or postgraduate level. Although the number of applications to archaeology undergraduate courses has declined steadily since the mid-1990s, this seems to have now levelled out. Many universities have masters courses designed to provide a qualification for the archaeology profession. There will be moves to ensure that courses like these meet the needs of the profession hrough aligning where necessary with the national occupation standards for archaeology, developed through the Archaeology Training Forum (of which the CBA is a member).
The CBA carries a certain degree of weight within heritage education at national level through its role on various committees, working parties etc, largely because it is UK-wide and cross-sector. Being able to pull together examples from different parts of Britain is unusual in education, even for governmental organisations.
The CBA also remains one of the few organisations that seeks to cover the whole range of education from five years old to retirement. Archaeology is a subject that can be studied at all ages and levels, and can be a life-enhancing experience. The CBA will continue to work for greater access to educational opportunities for all in archaeology. Other subjects often look across enviously and wish they had an equivalent of the CBA.
Don Henson is the CBA head of education and outreach
There is a strong and desperate need for resourcing, because heritage has lost out in recent years, and a crisis is approaching.
John Whittingdale, Westminster Hall debate on heritage, January 25 2007
CBA web:
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