New plans have been announced to help boost the qualifications of those young people with jobs in the fast food industry.

The government has joined forces with McDonalds to offer course and subsequent academic awards to members of staff who show they have all the relevant skills to run one of the company's restaurants.

Designed to be the equivalent of A-levels, the basic shift manager courses will equip young people with work-based skills such as human resource issues and customer service skills – all transferable to any job. These qualifications will also come in handy when workers choose to switch career and carry out a job search online.

Network Rail and budget airline Flybe will also rollout a similar scheme in line with permission from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Qualifications in track engineering will be awarded at the train company, while the airline will offer workers the chance to take part in its airline trainer programme which will include aspects of engineering and cabin crew duties.

The plans have been championed by prime minister Gordon Brown who told GMTV that the course will still be challenging - despite not being conventionally academic – and will open up new job opportunities to young people in the UK.

"You have got to do a pretty intensive course to get that qualification," he explained. "It's not that standards are going to fall. It's going to be a tough course. Once you've got that qualification you can go anywhere."

Famous faces to serve chips from behind a counter include model Agyness Deyn who worked at her local takeaway before being spotted. Now the face of Burberry and with homes in both London and New York, the modern-day Kate Moss served up fish suppers to customers at the Village Chippy in the Lancashire village of Stubbins.

Apparently, working in the fish and chip shop proved to be a wise career move for the peroxide blonde as one of her regular customers was fellow fashion industry star Henry Holland. The designer has since featured Deyn in all of his catwalk shows at London Fashion Week and regularly refers to the former fast food worker as his muse.

Her former boss at the chip shop, Irene Kershaw once told the Daily Mail that she knew Agyness would go far and trade in her service job for one in the bright lights.

"She was a normal, lovely girl who would serve the chips, wash up or do anything you asked," she said. "But she had charisma and I knew she would do well. She always got a great reception from the customers."

If the modelling career doesn't pan out perhaps Deyn could slip back behind the deep fat fryer and work her way up in the food industry with some help from these new qualifications.