Vocational training within the commercial environment: the trainee scheme at MOLA
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 02/09/2016

Vocational and employment-based training can provide a better grounding in archaeological field skills than most degree courses. The MOLA trainee scheme was specifically intended to provide an entry route into our profession for non-graduates of archaeology. Central to the scheme was the completion of the NVQ in Archaeological Practice, a vocational qualification that additionally provides evidence of the PCIfA level of competence. Fieldwork training is the primary element of the MOLA scheme, and the intention has always been to enable the trainees to leave the programme sufficiently experienced in field archaeology to gain employment within the sector.

Leo Thomas will outline the main principles behind the trainee scheme. With Leo will be one of the trainees, who will explain why the scheme was attractive to them, what they gained from the experience and how their career plans have worked out since they graduated (in March 2016).

Leo Thomas, Museum of London Archaeology