'A McDonald's A level and one dumb whopper' was the Telegraph'soffering, typical of the more acerbic view that the move would result ina dumbing down of qualifications and, anyway, no one outside theparticipating companies would recognise them.
What the critics fail to grasp is that corporates have long beeneducating the youth of this country. Perhaps the doubters would like tospend some time with the HR directors at the aforementioned companies.Then they would discover that literacy, numeracy, communication,interpersonal and management skills are being taught in the workplace,not in schools.
Whether this is right or wrong is not the issue here. I'm sure we allfeel the Government should be responsible for educating young people toappropriate literacy and numeracy standards but the sad fact is that,according to the Department of Children, Schools and Families, more thanfive million adults in England have literacy levels below the levelsrequired to achieve a GCSE grade D-G, while 6.8 million adults areestimated to have difficulties adding or subtracting using three-digitnumbers.
The skills crisis in this country is having an impact not only on ourown economy but on the UK's standing globally. Surely anything thathelps raise standards of all employees, young and old, that makes peoplemore employable and, importantly, that raises their confidence,motivation and self-worth has got to be a step forward.
Meanwhile, the headlines have not helped McDonald's in its campaign toredefine the McJob. We now have a new set of 'Mcs' - the McGCSE andMcQualification. And with more schools opting out of A levels entirely,how long will it be before we see the International Mclaureate?
Sian Harrington, editor, Email sian.harrington@haymarket.com.
