Teenagers who complete two weeks' work experience at a McDonald's restaurant will be awarded a qualification worth up to a B grade at GCSE.
Youngsters will be offered the 'certificate in work skills' for completing a ten-day programme which includes flipping burgers, serving customers at the tills and cleaning the dining area.
Schools will be able to count the qualification towards their ranking in GCSE league tables.
Teenagers who complete two weeks' work experience at a McDonald's restaurant will be awarded a qualification worth up to a B grade at GCSE
McDonald's today becomes the first employer in the country to win accreditation for its work experience programme from an exam board.
Others are expected to follow suit. But critics yesterday condemned the qualification for 'devaluing the currency' of GCSEs.
Teenagers who complete the placement at McDonald's will earn a 'BTEC Level 2 Certificate in Work Skills' accredited by the exam board Edexcel.
Under the national qualifications equivalence system, policed by exams watchdog Ofqual, the certificate can be worth a B or C grade at GCSE.
McDonald's said the placement would cover 'teamwork' and ' communication' and listed 13 specific skills it would help teenagers develop.
These include building working relationships with customers and colleagues, interview skills and positive attitudes at work, such as developing confidence and making decisions.
The fast food chain said youngsters would be encouraged to work in a range of roles, including helping in the Drive Thru section, preparing food, using the tills and assisting customers.
Youngsters would have to complete a fifth of the work experience programme on paper back at school.
But Professor Alan Smithers, director-of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, said the accreditation of work experience as equivalent to a GCSE 'devalues the currency' of public exams.
'To say that ten days working in McDonald's is equivalent to a GCSE is ridiculous,' he said.
dailymail.co.uk | The McDonald's qualification is mainly aimed at pupils who have a statutory entitlement to undertake work experience between 14 and 16.
A spokesman for Ofqual said: 'This is an established qualification from Edexcel designed to help equip learners with the workplace skills that employers look for in potential staff and recognise them with a formal qualification.'
Most university degree courses simply lead to a low-grade job such as serving coffee in Starbucks, a leading City organisation said yesterday.
The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment said young people should instead go on a gap year after school and then straight into a job
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