At present, there are more than 30 million students in vocational schools across the country, and reporters interviewed the heads of a number of secondary and higher vocational schools to promote the high-quality development of vocational education
Vocational education makes "everyone can shine"
From July 2011 to bid farewell to the three-year vocational school life in Beijing Electronic Technology Vocational College to the present, in ten years, Wu Di, born in 1989, has grown from a young graduate to a member of the quality assurance department of a Beijing pharmaceutical company director.
Recalling the choice of vocational education, Wu Di was more calm in his heart, “I was more serious at the time, but I was more interested in biology and chemistry. For me, the school not only teaches professional knowledge, but also cultivates personal qualities. It gave me a lot of hands-on opportunities."
According to the "Statistical Bulletin of National Education Development in 2020" published by the Ministry of Education, there are currently more than 30 million vocational school students nationwide.
Can a vocational college have a bright future?
From the national level, favorable policies continue, but at the social level, vocational college students are unwilling to be blue-collars, and people's deep-rooted prejudice against vocational education also exists objectively.
What are the urgent problems to be solved in the development of vocational schools?
How to change the duality of vocational education?
Recently, a reporter from the Beijing News interviewed the heads of many middle and higher vocational colleges and vocational education experts across the country.
status quo
Vocational Education Recruitment Exists in the "Two Heavens of Ice and Fire"
For months, Zhang Hui (pseudonym) has been suffering from gains and losses because of her sister's failure in the high school entrance examination.
Her hometown is a small town in Linyi City, Shandong. The local high school entrance examination reform this year, the younger sister who was on the marginal line failed to pass the entrance examination, was directly diverted to the vocational education school. If you don’t go to high school, you can only go to secondary vocational school.”
Why doesn't she want her sister to go to vocational education? Zhang Hui feels bitter.
She said that in the county where her sister is located, there is only one secondary vocational school, which was formerly called a technical school. In the consciousness of everyone in the local area, going to a technical school is like a mess and has no future.
In the struggle, my sister finally chose to go to the city's vocational school to study.
In the big city on the other side, the enrollment of Guangzhou Tourism Business Vocational School is full.
"Of course, we are not only based on scores, and if we have certain specialties, we will relax the admission requirements." Regarding the popularity of the school's enrollment, Wu Haohong, the principal of the school, was a little proud in his words.
From the actual situation, there are indeed some vocational schools that are dissatisfied in recruiting and have poor student sources, while some are relatively popular and can even actively choose the source of students. Why do vocational education recruitment exist in the "ice and fire"?
Wu Haohong believes that there are subjective and objective reasons.
The first is "historical debts." When many schools started to run schools, the conditions and basic conditions were weak. Second, the schools had insufficient motivation for active development and failed to earnestly study and implement major policies.
Under the leadership of Wu Haohong, Guangzhou Tourism and Business Vocational School will pay attention to the government work report and understand the local economic development every year.
For example, the newly-added cruise service and management major is the school's attention to the Nansha International Cruise Homeport Project; the e-sports major is established based on the Guangzhou City will create a gathering place for the e-sports industry.
"We can't train athletes, but we can train match assistants, commentators, and referees."
Wu Haohong also said frankly that poor economic conditions in many places will also restrict the development of vocational education.
"The local economic vitality and the development of vocational education are symbiotic and synchronized." He believes that even if this situation exists, vocational schools should take the initiative in school-enterprise cooperation and take the initiative to reform and struggle.
How to improve the level of vocational schools?
Zheng Yanqiu, deputy principal of Beijing Changping Vocational School, believes that vocational schools, especially secondary vocational schools, must run schools closely around the regional economy.
First of all, it must be highly compatible with the local industry.
For example, in the context of rural revitalization, local vocational education schools can provide training for rural enterprises and communities.
"For secondary vocational schools, open school resources, provide labor education curriculum services to primary and secondary schools, and provide technical services to local industries and enterprises."
Idea
Social recognition of vocational schools is low
Mr. Bai's son is studying in a middle school in Beijing. He wants his child to pass the high school entrance examination to enter a better general high school, so that he can be admitted to 985 colleges and universities.
He has never thought about the way of vocational education, and it comes from his life experience.
"After all, we belong to blue-collar workers and manual workers. We still want our children to engage in mental work." Mr. Bai was born in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During his middle school, he was enrolled in colleges and universities, and society preferred academic qualifications.
Zheng Yanqiu believes that although prejudice is based on historical reasons, with the development of society, "blue-collar" and "white-collar" are in the past. With the emergence of new formats and technologies, the future education system is also changing.
"Half of the children take the path of vocational education, and half of the children receive general education. All of them can become undergraduates, masters, and doctoral students."
She mentioned an interesting saying, "The lifetime occupation of the post-60s is the zero power of 2, and the lifetime occupation of the post-80s is the second power of 2 (4). When it comes to the post-90s, it is the third power. , The fourth power..." Zheng Yanqiu said that the society is in a transitional period and the job content of the profession is changing. Vocational education pays more attention to the cultivation of talents and pays more attention to the sustainable development ability of people. Skills and theoretical learning build a career structure for students. This gave him his motivation for upward development.
How to improve the quality of vocational education to break the prejudices in the market?
Wu Haohong introduced that the school’s long-term cultural atmosphere is not only to promote employment as the orientation, but also to pay attention to students’ expectations for further studies, and to promote a series of policies such as "3+2 middle and higher vocational training" and "3+X college entrance examination". Encourage students to progress to higher education through a variety of channels.
In addition, Wu Haohong said that Guangdong Province has implemented the link between secondary vocational education and undergraduate education, and has tried in five majors. The school closely follows this policy and emphasizes the targeted training of students.
"Out of the five major attempts, the Chinese cuisine major meets this requirement. Every year, more than ten students from the school are directly promoted to undergraduates."
Teachers are also the top priority for quality improvement. Wu Haohong introduced that the school requires each teacher to become a dual-qualified talent in terms of teacher training, that is, he can not only teach, but also be competent for a certain position in the company.
According to this, many teachers in the school are industry leaders. For example, the bartending teacher is the chairman of the Guangdong Bartending Industry Association, and the director of the culinary department is also a master in the industry.
In order to ensure the quality of teaching, the school will also invite masters in the industry to attend classes, and there will be a "master class" every week.
Wu Haohong said frankly that he hopes that the state will introduce some preferential policies to encourage teachers to actively participate in school-enterprise cooperation.
policy
The "ceiling" of vocational education students' academic qualifications is broken
"There is never a lack of courage to start from scratch." On November 4th, in July this year, Gail, who just graduated from Beijing Jinsong Vocational High School Class 1805, majoring in western food, posted a circle of friends. The picture is his own college entrance examination registration. The online application was successfully submitted. Screenshot of.
At that time, it was less than half a year since he graduated and joined a coffee chain company as a bartender.
Gayle once told reporters, "I want to continue my studies and get a college diploma. I only have a high school education level, so I can't continue to be promoted to deputy manager."
For students in vocational colleges such as Gaylord, the way to improve their academic qualifications in the future will become smoother and smoother.
In November this year, the Ministry of Education responded to the recommendation No. 2629 of the Fourth Session of the Thirteenth National People’s Congress “Recommendations on Lowering the Threshold of Secondary Vocational School Students Entering Higher Education Institutions for Full-time Education” and stated that it will further strengthen the basic role of secondary vocational education. Standardize the long-term system of technical and technical personnel training, strictly implement the admission requirements for top-notch talents, and gradually establish a "vocational education and college entrance examination" system, so that secondary vocational graduates can enjoy more diverse education options and smoother academic promotion channels.
Moving forward, in March 2021, the Ministry of Education issued the "Professional Catalogue of Vocational Education (2021)", which set up 247 higher vocational undergraduate majors.
Since 2019, the Ministry of Education has approved 27 schools to independently hold undergraduate-level vocational education.
From secondary vocational to higher vocational colleges, to undergraduate-level vocational education, the academic "ceiling" of vocational education is gradually being broken.
"Maybe everyone thought that vocational school students are all students with poor academic performance. Now with this upward channel, students will feel that he can also be brilliant and have a positive effect on his study." Associate School of Beijing Vocational College of Electronics and Technology Long Zhu Yunli said that the upward channel for vocational school students has always existed.
"Look at the secondary vocational colleges in Beijing, about 80% of the students choose to go to higher education. This is because there is an upward channel." Gao Weidong, associate researcher at the Vocational Institute of the Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences also believes that the continuous introduction of favorable policies has Help vocational school students get more learning opportunities and upward channels.
The reporter learned that Beijing officially launched a high-end skilled talent training program in 2014. Some vocational colleges cooperated with model high schools, undergraduate colleges, and large domestic and foreign companies to recruit junior high school graduates from superior majors that match industrial development. After completing the basic cultural courses in high school, accept higher vocational education and undergraduate professional education.
Yu Jun, deputy director of the Vocational Education Department of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, once said that through training programs, students can master a skill proficiently and have the opportunity to enter undergraduate colleges without going through ordinary high schools.
Not only in Beijing, vocational colleges in many places are also implementing this kind of talent training model.
In March 2021, the head of the Department of Vocational Education and Adult Education of the Ministry of Education said in response to a reporter’s question on the "Catalogue of Vocational Education Majors (2021)" that vocational education at all levels of middle, high, and undergraduate levels, as well as similar majors, is vertically connected. , Horizontal integration, "the integrated design of middle, high, and capital, embodying the concept of integration and integration."
What are the things that vocational colleges need to pay attention to in the continuity training?
Gao Weidong said that when conducting thorough training, various secondary and higher vocational courses, including practical training, must be designed in an integrated manner. What to focus on and what to focus on at the higher vocational stage, so as to avoid problems such as duplication of courses."
Assure
Create the "spring" of vocational education
"Vocational school students can also test for public institutions."
On November 2, the "Notice on Issues Concerning Vocational College Graduates Participating in the Public Recruitment of Public Institutions" issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security triggered heated discussions on the Internet as soon as it became public.
Related topics such as "Public institutions shall not restrict graduate colleges" and other related topics rushed into hot searches instantly.
As soon as the notice was released, many vocational schools breathed a sigh of relief.
For a long time, vocational school students can only be blue-collar workers. The reality of low pay and low social status has caused many parents to always choose the former when facing general high school or vocational school. Even vocational school students do not want to be "Blue collar".
Previously, the "China Youth Daily" Ministry of Education and Science issued a questionnaire to students from vocational colleges across the country to understand the employment intentions of vocational college students. Data shows that 63.97% of the interviewed vocational college students would not choose to enter factories or construction sites after graduation. For first-line grassroots positions such as workshops and workshops, only 32.8% of the interviewed vocational college students found that their students would choose electrician, welder and other real economic jobs after graduation.
Enthusiasm is getting colder, how to ignite the future craftsmen of the great power?
In Gao Weidong's view, the improvement of vocational education in the future does not lie in vocational education itself, but in the improvement of the entire social environment.
"Why is vocational education not attractive? First of all, the social status of skilled talents has not been improved and improved, and the benefits are not high. Of course, they are not attractive. Parents are unwilling to send their children to vocational schools. The status and treatment are improved.” At the same time, we must continue to eliminate the discriminatory policies for skilled talents in the employment link, and broaden the channel for skilled talents to rise.
"For example, if you compare vocational education to an application software, then the social environment is the operating system. If there is a problem with the compatibility of the operating system and the application software, the application software will not run effectively." Gao Weidong said, optimization The social environment is very important to the development of vocational education. “The environment that restricts the development of vocational education will not change. Even if vocational education is improved, it will be restricted.”
"In the past five years, the employment rate of graduates in our school has been stable at over 96%, especially in 2020. Despite various pressures such as the epidemic, the employment rate is still good." Zhu Yunli introduced that the graduates of Beijing Electronic Technology Vocational College are not only The employment rate has remained stable, and the average starting salary of 2020 graduates has also maintained a steady upward trend, reaching 78,300 yuan, which is higher than the average starting salary of 69,700 yuan in Beijing's exemplary higher vocational colleges in the same period.
In Zhu Yunli's view, such achievements are not unrelated to the close integration of the school's professional settings and the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone.
As the only university in the development zone, Beijing Electronic Technology Vocational College has actively coordinated the needs of regional leading industries and strategic emerging industries since its overall relocation in 2015, and has added development zones such as aircraft electronic equipment maintenance, industrial robot technology, and new energy vehicles. Majors urgently needed by high-end industries, integrating and eliminating secrets, radio and television network technology, welding technology, and other majors that are inconsistent with the industrial development direction of the development zone.
"Vocational colleges are inseparable from enterprises. If you want to run a vocational college, you can't do it yourself with the door closed. Then there will be a situation where the training plan is out of touch with the actual needs. There are also problems with student employment." Zhu Yunli said. .
Beijing News reporter Liu Yang Yang Feifei