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Explore the broad range of career paths and transferable skills available to Archaeology graduates beyond field archaeology. Learn how an Archaeology degree equips students with diverse skills and opens doors to various vocational opportunities.
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Will an Archaeology degree give me a broad enough education?
Misconceptions of Archaeology • There are many misconceptions about the employability of an Archaeology graduate: • That an Archaeology graduate can only work as a field archaeologist • That an Archaeology degree is only a vocational education • That an Archaeology graduate learns a narrower range of transferable skills than graduates in History and related subjects • These can be quickly dispelled…
Student employability profiles • Published by the Higher Education Academy (2nd revised edition, May 2007) • Co-authored by: • The Higher Education Academy • The Council for Industry and Higher Education • Graduate Prospects • The profiles identify the skills that can be developed through the study of each discipline…
Transferable skills • The following two slides include the transferable skills and abilities that will typically be acquired by a graduate in Archaeology, Ancient History/Classics, and History • Equivalent and/or very similar transferable skills across the disciplines are presented in the same rows for ease of comparison
Compare & Contrast… • All three subjects broadly share the vast majority of the transferable skills which their graduates acquire… • In other words: there is no need to think “If I study for an Archaeology degree I can only become an Archaeologist” any more than there is, quite rightly, no need to think “If I study for a History degree I can only become a Historian…”
The multiple disciplines ofArchaeology • Archaeology has a long association with multiple disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences • As a result archaeological teaching and learning is highly multi-disciplinary • The diverse range of skills acquired through an Archaeology degree therefore facilitates graduates entering a diverse range of careers outside of the subject
Vocational skills in Archaeology • An Archaeology degree does of course also provide a range of specialist and vocational skills: • Practising fieldwork and laboratory techniques • Appreciating the importance of recovering primary data through practical experience • Critically applying methodologies for quantifying, analysing and interpreting primary data • Interpreting spatial data, and integrating theoretical models, the traces surviving in present-day landscapes, and excavation data • Understanding the concepts and application of scientific methods used in collecting, analysing, and interpreting archaeological data
Beyond field archaeology • And if you do choose to study Archaeology as a vocational training degree, there are a wide range of career options within the subject… • Beyond the various fieldwork jobs (e.g. excavation, supervision, project management, finds specialisms, surveying, remote sensing) there are also archaeology-focused careers in: • Research • Heritage management (local government and ‘national’ organisations such as English Heritage) • Museums (curation and education) • Conservation
The following pages include examples of the careerpaths taken by recent Reading Archaeology graduates, both outside and within the subject
Recent Graduate Profiles I • Ann-Marie Bonwick (formerly Collier): • Studied BA Archaeology, now working as PA to the Mayor of Wokingham • Jodi Davidson: • Studied BA Archaeology, followed by a PGCE (teacher training), and is now a Primary School teacher specialising in the teaching of French • Tim Ivil: • Tim studied BA Archaeology and then found employment working for the Metropolitan Police Service in New Scotland Yard
Recent Graduate Profiles II • Marie Hayward: • Marie studied BA Archaeology & History, and is now working in the Press Office of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich • Luke Bonwick: • Studied BA Archaeology, and is now working as a Heritage Consultant specialising in the recording of mills and historic buildings • Virgil Yendell: • Studied BA Archaeology, now employed as a Geoarchaeologist with the Museum of London Archaeological Service
Recent Graduate Profiles III • Jenni Thurstan: • Studied BA Archaeology and is now working as an archaeologist for Oxford Archaeology • Rob Fry: • Studied BA Archaeology, then worked for the British School at Rome for 1 year prior to returning to a research post at Reading • Chris King: • Studied BA Archaeology, followed by further academic studies, and is now employed as a Lecturer at Leicester University