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The university of McDonalds

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Now people who never went to uni no longer have to come up with that university of life bullshit. You can now do your a-levels with Britain's latest examination board. Flybe are one of the others, but worst of all, Network Rail are allowed to actually hand out qualifications.

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    the names of the qualifications they have named so far hardly seem relevant outside that employer, load of crap if you ask me.
  • BunnieBunnie Posts: 6,099 Master Poster
    I heard about this on the radio earlier on and I agree with LS, it is only useful for the employees of the company.

    If you have a customer service "McA level", River Island/Argos/Co-op probably wont be arsed whether you have it or not.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Good idea - encourages employers to offer proper training.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Will I be able to get a drive-through degree? :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote: »
    Will I be able to get a drive-through degree? :)

    For an extra 30p, you can upgrade to a McDegree though. ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think it depends a lot of what sort of companies are doing it and what kind of training it is.

    I am currently being trained by the company that will hire me if I pass. They are following European standards for the qualifications although it may not necessarily mean I could get a job wherever in Europe.

    One incentive for companies to be ambitious about these qualifications is the fact that training costs lots of money so they're hardly going to waste manpower or money on useless training (unless they find ways to earn money from it). It could also mean the training would be shorter and more concise. In the same manner, the companies could end up cutting costs as much as possible and thus make the education meaningless.
    Another thing that could be positive is that it could be easier to involve hands-on training along with classes. Uni sometimes felt a lot like pissing about for three years and then I STILL needed more education to not be just a run of the mill BSc graduate.
    The negative is of course that there's likely to be a bias in the education toward the company offering the qualifications.

    The market will ultimately be the one to judge these qualifications.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    There were people getting really snobby about it on the radio, whinging about how in debt they are cause of their masters in complicated whatever, and now any old numpty with a McJob can get qualified, blah blah blah. What rubbish.

    I'm all for people trying to better themselves and improve their situations, especially the kind of people these schemes are aimed at, and if they want to be a McD's qualified fast food store manager, then good on them. IMO it is far, far better than them sitting on their arses deciding whether they can be bothered to work or not.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I agree with kaff, I think its a great idea, providing proper recognition of the jobs that people do. Working in these places can provide you with a wide and varied skillset, and providing a bit of paper showing this allows people to transfer to better employment and better themselves.

    I don't understand the snobbiness about McDonalds jobs. Certainly for people with few other formal qualifications it gives them a good opportunity in life, and why should anyone sneer about that?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think its a good idea, I don't understand why people look down their noses, especially those that go to fast food places themselves. For many the till/food work is just to make some money while studying etc anyway, not many actually plan on staying behind the till their whole career.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i think it's a good idea actually, like the network rail being able to train in railway engineering at approximate A Level standard, which is actually a good thing as there's a huge lack of rail engineers - it's also a train spotters dream!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I really don't understand why McDonald's gets such a bad press. Okay, I readily admit that most of the food they serve is not to my taste. But from everyone that I know who's worked for them, they have nothing but good to say about McDonald's. I look forward to seeing how this pans out.

    However, I'd also like to see the government actually doing something about our shambolic joke of an education system. No child should leave school struggling to read or write, but thousands do every single year. Until they deal with disgraceful matters such as this, "McDegrees" will be nothing more than sticking plasters.
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    My mother who worked in for the Job Centre for some years said always said that having McDonalds Manager on your CV was well respected amongst many employers. Especially good for those who want to go on a manage busy high street bars and such.

    I joined MCdonalds when I was 17 and stayed for 6 months or so. The bloke I joined with went on to manage the place and now manages a big bar in town, on a very decent salary.
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    kaffrin wrote: »
    There were people getting really snobby about it on the radio, whinging about how in debt they are cause of their masters in complicated whatever, and now any old numpty with a McJob can get qualified, blah blah blah. What rubbish.

    Tbh, (I heard) the top universities have already said that they won't be accepting them as entry qualifications onto a degree course, so they're obviously not equivalent to A Levels anyway.
  • JsTJsT Posts: 18,268 Skive's The Limit
    Network Rail are allowed to actually hand out qualifications.
    Which they have already been doing for many years, it is only now that they've started doing A level style degrees. I genuinely can't believe all the negative attitude (not just on here) because a company actually wants to improve things for their employees!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't see why it's such a big story. I've worked for a few places, namely PGL, that gives its' staff NVQs. Ok they may not be the best qualification in the world, and they didn't mean much to me, but for some people who may have left school without a single GCSE, it could help them find other jobs in future.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think its a great idea to encourage people to better themselves!

    The thing im not sure about is who will be testing and marking, are they offering these qualifications via an audited agency or will it be themselves?
    My point is, this is the way other companies work! mine being one.

    It sounds though like they have been given the "power" (for want of a better word) to access and grade within theyre own company yet we are talking about National Qualifications here.

    Think its gcse and A level equivalent?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Tbh, (I heard) the top universities have already said that they won't be accepting them as entry qualifications onto a degree course, so they're obviously not equivalent to A Levels anyway.

    That's the point. Snobbish people are being snobbish because they suspect that these qualifications won't be rigorous. They suspect that they're just something to stop people from feeling like failures or second-class. Hence the incessant 'they're equal to A-levels' refrain. They feel that it is right that people who are failures should feel like failures. On the other hand, they may end up actually being better than the vocational qualifications the Govt offers. *shrug*
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Runnymede wrote: »
    That's the point. Snobbish people are being snobbish because they suspect that these qualifications won't be rigorous.

    But the very fact that people have snobbish attitudes means that they won't be worth as much. It's like buying a particular car because of the brand. It may be a superficial reason to buy a car, but the very fact that so many people think like that means that when you come to sell it later on, it will be worth more. My degree is a degree just like the ones from Oxford and Cambridge, but I know that it's not worth the same, even if technically it's the same qualification.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    katchika wrote: »
    I don't see why it's such a big story. I've worked for a few places, namely PGL, that gives its' staff NVQs.

    It's news because these companies are actually designing and running the courses, rather than just sending their staff on a college course.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Presumably they have to be approved to have academic merit though. I think it's just a natural progression - after all you are learning in the workplace.
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    But the very fact that people have snobbish attitudes means that they won't be worth as much.

    Your talking about people on the street. In that specific industry having been a McDonalds Manager is already a worthy thing to put on you CV and already a reasonably impressive thing for future employers. It's seriously good experience.
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Skive wrote: »
    Your talking about people on the street.

    Well actually, I was talking about university admissions.
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    Well actually, I was talking about university admissions.

    Fair enough. I think these qualifications won't be much good for getting into Uni, but when applying foir other jobs I suspect they'll be very good.

    Quite often experience wins out over degrees anyway.
    Weekender Offender 
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Skive wrote: »
    Fair enough. I think these qualifications won't be much good for getting into Uni, but when applying foir other jobs I suspect they'll be very good.

    Exactly. It's not like they're going to help you get onto an astrophysics degree, but they could very well help you on the way to running your own pub, or managing a restaurant, which is a perfectly respectable career choice.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i think it's a good idea although probably more of a marketing gimmick than anything else, the big IT companies like microsoft and cisco all have their own industry qualification standards that are valued outside of the respective companies......i agree the managerial experience is a definite plus on the cv, i'm just not sure that people really view mcdonalds or the service industry in general as a LT career path but i could be wrong.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm not sure what the training course entails, but it'll probably include things like people management, stock control, health and safety, food hygeine, financial management.

    These are all good transferable skills. And to an employer probably as much worth (if not more) as my BA (International Relations and Strategic Studies) and MA (War Studies)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well actually, I was talking about university admissions.

    I wouldn't be in much of a hurry to get into uni if i was 18 again.
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