The Regional AGM on the 8 March 2008 was preceded by a training event on the theme of Managing Work Placements. This was in response to requests for training in this area following Henry’s recent work experience questionnaire. Don’t say we never react to members’ requests! Henry Sullivan started by presented the results of the recent questionnaire (see previous blog entry!) and was followed by Stewart Fyffe, Enterprise in Education Co-ordinator, Dundee City Council places several hundred secondary pupils into placements each year. His entertaining presentation was useful in introducing records professionals to the purposes behind work experience placements. Stewart’s handouts are available on the Scottish Regions pages
Andrew Dowsey gave a presentation on his experience of placements through the New Deal initiative. These are individuals who are looking to develop key work skills and gain experience but who do not necessarily have any interest in archives or records. However, over a 13 week placement their output can be hugely beneficial to them as individuals. For the repository, it is a chance to gain staff to continue ongoing projects, such as catalogue Dean of Guild plans, and to finish off or start small projects. Concerns were raised over unsuitable candidates being foisted onto repositories, but Andrew’s own experience showed that the pre-placement process is very careful to find suitable individuals and that the repository can halt the placement, even after it has started, if it is not working. A lively activity followed where groups designed work placements for school pupils and New Deal placements and this generated a lot of useful discussion and sharing of experience.
After lunch, the focus turned to pre-course and on-course archive placements. Adele Redhead from the Glasgow IMP course and Caroline Brown from the Dundee course set out their ideas of what they consider to be suitable pre-course experience where quality over quantity was highlighted several times as well as reference being made to the FARMER guidelines! Adele also talked about the cataloguing placements undertaken by Glasgow students. It was great to have two Glasgow students give short presentations on their own placements, highlighting both the positive and negative aspects of their placements. Again these are available on the society's webpages. A useful discussion then ensued focusing on how the courses and repositories can help one another in order to provide better placements for students.
This was a useful day for those who attended and the speaker and discussions were both entertaining and informative. A huge thank you to the speakers who gave up their time to share their experiences.
David Powell. SOA,S Training Officer