McDonald's

McDonalds: For grades or for food?

Yesterday it was announced that high-school students doing their GCSE’s would be able to get an equivalent of a Grade B at GCSE for doing work experience at fast food giant McDonald’s. Although it may seem surprising, McDonalds will be accredited by Edexcel, which is one of the UK’s five main examination boards.

Furthermore, McDonalds is the largest fast food chain, which leads it to serving an average of 43 million customers daily. 1Obviously by looking at this vast number of customers, it does seem to make sense that McDonalds needs more qualified people, who are specialised for the job, to keep their company running.

On the other hand, Professor Alan Smithers, the director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University exclaimed: “This is really devaluing the qualifications currency. If someone can get the equivalent of a GCSE in work experience, how are people going to judge pupils who are getting an A in physics? They are going to say, 'that’s almost the same as two weeks at McDonalds'.”

When asked what her views were, Park High’s Connexions Advisor replied saying: “I’m not sure about the food preparation aspect seeing as a student will achieve more in a Catering/Food GSCE, which will also be more valuable for gaining skills in customer service and teamwork. However, it may be a good opportunity for individuals who think it will be their career ambition. Although, the GSCE itself needs to be more clear and have concise guidelines.”

In addition to that, when we interviewed some of our sixth form students they said that they wouldn’t have done it because they want to be successful. They see that working in McDonalds would not benefit them. Other sixth form students said the same and if it was offered to them at the time, then they still wouldn’t have done it. Also, a Year 11 student quoted that they wouldn’t have done it but they did say that if anyone really want to do it then they should.


However, even though the McDonalds idea doesn’t seem to appeal to ambitious Park High students, maybe, because of the current jobs market, it will be an attractive offer in years to come. Starbucks, the major coffee brand is currently dishing out jobs to university graduates because they need money to pay off their student debt and graduate jobs are becoming harder to find. But the question is: is this job really worth taking on, when you are over qualified for it?

“Students who are achieving the highest level in physics don’t need to work in a place like Starbucks for a low wage.” claimed Simon Culhane, the chief executive of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. “It would be better off taking a gap year before entering any industry.” This comment was made days after the Association of Graduate Recruiters called for the Government to close down its target to get half of all school leavers into higher education. But the Association said that the target pushed too many people on substandard courses.

Mr Culhane also stated, “Today’s graduates have a tough time. There aren’t enough jobs around, so students have no other choice but to go to Starbucks and earn what they can and also fit it around their school and social life.”

Let’s hope that this won’t affect Park High students in the future and they can carefully plan their careers before it’s too late.

By Honey and Binal