Qualifications - A Level-McDonald Studies

The Qualifications & Curriculum Authority (QCA) has recently accredited three in-house training schemes. The McDonald’s Basic Shift Management, and the Network Rail Track Engineering training schemes have been accredited as Level 3 (A-Level equivalent), while the Flybe Airline Trainer Programme has been assessed at Level 4 (undergraduate).
Employers will have the chance to award their own qualifications. The accreditation meant that these three companies have achieved awarding body status and their awards can be recognised for entry to universities or even as part of a university course.

Worried about standards? Prime Minister Gordon Brown said this did not mean standards would fall. "It is going to be a tough course, but once you have got an assessed qualification you can probably go anywhere. I think that is the important thing, companies are prepared to train people up which they weren't doing before, so that people have the qualifications for the future."

McDonald’s

David Fairhurst, McDonald’s director of people, said that the scheme would give staff a chance to better themselves, and that even those who left after getting the qualification would become “brand ambassadors for life”.

“Our model is not really about focusing on keeping people at all costs – for a third of our staff we are their first employer, and we convert more young people back into education than any employer in the UK,” said Fairhurst.

The “Basic Shift Manager” course includes 80 hours of classroom study, with modules on customer service, health and safety, food hygiene, finance and even HR. The training would provide a base for staff to rise to higher positions in the company. HR was a prime example, he said.

“The fact is that most of my department started off through this route – once the course has whetted the appetite and [students] show an interest in working for a support department such as HR, we can take this further and support them to take professional qualifications as the next step,” Fairhurst said.

Other retailers should consider going down the same skills route in time for the 2012 London Olympics, he added.

However, Beverley Paddey of Skillsmart Retail, the sector skills council for retail, said that other firms in the sector would have to think carefully before following McDonald’s lead. “It is clear that setting up as an awarding body does have serious implications, including being open to external scrutiny, and we encourage retailers to think about the range of options that are also available,” Paddey said.

The more conventional route of offering formal qualifications via existing bodies was working for other major employers in the sector, such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s, she added.

Network Rail

Network Rail will have a framework of qualifications accredited by the QCA. Staff will work towards credits, each involving around 10 hours of training, with managers having the ability to issue passes or fails. The initial qualification, “Track Engineering”, consists of 12 credits. But all 33,000 staff will eventually be on the framework and earn credits, with some working towards A-level and degree-level qualifications, and even PhDs.

Marc Auckland, head of leadership and development, said: “We already have a comprehensive set of training courses, but being accredited will add to our attraction for new recruits and also help set the standards for the industry. The plan is that whether they join us in track maintenance, in marketing or as a graduate trainee there will be a development path for them.”

John McGurk, adviser to the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, learning, training and development, welcomed the government’s move. “With an increasing number of UK organisations facing acute recruitment and skills shortages, many employers see in-house training and apprenticeships as a better means of addressing gaps than externally provided courses.”

But any organisations that pursued this route would have to ensure the skills they taught were transferable to other workplaces, McGurk warned.

Adapted from articles published by People Management and BBC News
January, 2008