The newly revised Vocational Education Law was implemented, facing the pain points of vocational education development——
Improve vocational education recognition
Our reporter Shi Zhipeng "People's Daily Overseas Edition" (July 04, 2022 Issue 05)
Promoting socialist modernization requires high-quality workers and high-level skills and technology, and calls for high-quality vocational education.
From May 1 this year, the Vocational Education Law, which was overhauled for the first time since it was promulgated in 1996, came into effect.
The newly revised Vocational Education Law actively responds to social concerns, clarifies that vocational school students enjoy equal opportunities in further education, employment, career development, etc., and strives to improve the recognition of vocational education, and the development of vocational education ushered in a new spring.
With the implementation of the newly revised Vocational Education Law, there are more and more stories of happiness in life relying on skills throughout the country.
Low recognition is the biggest difficulty
In the "reservoir" of talent training, vocational education is very important.
"As an important part of the national education system and human resource development, vocational education is an important way to cultivate diverse talents, inherit technical skills, and promote employment and entrepreneurship." Professor He Zhen, dean of the National Vocational Education Research Institute of Beijing Normal University, said that the development of Vocational education is also a long-term need for economic and social development. Without vocational education, a complete industrial chain and innovation chain cannot be formed, and there will be structural ruptures and shortages of technical and skilled talents.
For a long time, the social recognition of vocational education is not high.
According to the "Large-scale Questionnaire Survey Report on Vocational Education Development in China" released by the "Educator" magazine in 2021, the "social recognition" of the interviewed students and parents is at the forefront when choosing "the biggest difficulty facing the development of vocational education".
Why is this?
Some experts pointed out that, on the one hand, due to the fact that high school education has always adopted a segregation model, the problem of "stratification" has arisen to some extent.
Vocational education is often considered to be one level lower than general education, and many parents even think that they would rather their children go to an ordinary high school than a vocational high school.
On the other hand, many vocational school students encounter unfair treatment such as "invisible thresholds" in terms of further studies and employment, which strengthens people's cognitive biases about the status of vocational education.
Chen Lixiang, vice president of the China Association of Vocational and Technical Education, pointed out that in terms of further studies, the highest degree of vocational education received is a junior college, and there is no connection with ordinary higher education, so there is limited space for further study; in terms of employment, many vocational school graduates are reflected in the In the process of taking civil servant exams and recruiting enterprises and institutions, they encounter "educational discrimination". Even after joining the company, they will face more or less barriers in subsequent promotions, including the dilemma of "different pay for equal work".
"Due to the vague positioning of training objectives, the content and methods of education in some vocational colleges have not been independent from subject education, and the quality of education has not been able to meet the current technological development and production needs of enterprises, making it difficult for students to adapt to their jobs after graduation. "Chen Lixiang said.
A vocational school teacher who once brought a graduating class introduced that there was a class of more than 30 people. After 2 years of graduation, almost all of them had a resignation record, and only 3 people still engaged in this major after resignation.
In the teacher's view, the high turnover rate of vocational school students is not only related to salary and status, but also related to many students' lack of career direction and meaning.
Input affects output, and the same is true in education.
For a long period of time, people have misunderstood and felt that vocational education does not require money.
But in fact, because of the need for more venues, equipment and consumables, organizing vocational education itself is a high-investment business.
According to UNESCO statistics, the cost of running vocational education is about three times that of general education.
In this sense, He Zhen believes that domestic investment in vocational education is not enough.
According to statistics, China's higher vocational enrollment accounts for more than 55% of higher education, and the direct financial investment obtained by higher vocational education only accounts for about 20% of the entire higher education.
From "level" to "type" is an important change
From May 1 this year, the new Vocational Education Law came into effect, and many regulations face the problems in development.
He Zhen said that the implementation of the new law marks that China's vocational education has entered a new stage of high-quality development and the construction of a skill-based society, and also announced the basic formation of a modern vocational education system with Chinese characteristics.
The new law makes it clear for the first time that vocational education is an education type with equal importance to general education.
From "level" to "type" is an important change.
Chen Lixiang said that this is conducive to shaping social consensus and enhancing the recognition of vocational education.
Different from the previous "diversion", the new law proposes "coordinated development" on the relationship between vocational education and general education, and also stipulates that "promoting the integration and mutual recognition of learning outcomes between vocational education and general education".
"In the past, the saying that vocational education is 'second-class education' and 'secondary education' will no longer exist, and it will be replaced by 'appropriate education'." Chen Lixiang said.
Exports are smooth and imports are prosperous.
In terms of further education, the new law has opened up the previous "dead end", and the junior college is no longer the "ceiling" of vocational education.
"The law stipulates that undergraduate vocational education majors should be set up in ordinary colleges and universities, and undergraduate vocational education majors should be set up in vocational schools at the junior college level." Chen Ziji, director of the Department of Vocational Education and Adult Education of the Ministry of Education, said that vocational school students can not only study junior colleges, but also undergraduates. .
This unblocks the development channel of vocational school students from the legal level, and will greatly increase the enthusiasm of students to go to secondary vocational schools.
Before the implementation of the new law, the pilot program of vocational education at the undergraduate level has actually been carried out nationwide.
Xiaoye, who is studying in Guangdong Industrial and Commercial Vocational and Technical University, is a beneficiary of the enrollment reform of "promotion from secondary vocational school to undergraduate".
"I made the right choice to take the vocational education path!" Xiaoye was excited when she recalled her experience of getting admitted to an undergraduate degree from a secondary vocational school step by step.
Xiaoye, who graduated from junior high school, came to study at Leliu Vocational and Technical School in Foshan City, Guangdong Province.
At that time, he was very anxious and felt that he had no connection with college life.
"With the encouragement of my teachers and family, I never gave up my 'college dream'," said Xiaoye.
Finally, with unremitting efforts, Xiaoye passed the vocational education college entrance examination and became a college student.
In terms of employment, how to break the "invisible threshold"?
The new law stipulates that employers shall not set conditions for application, recruitment and employment that hinder the equal employment and fair competition of vocational school graduates.
All localities actively responded to the requirements of the new law and continuously expanded the employment channels for vocational school students.
Beijing recently issued the "Implementation Plan for Promoting the High-Quality Development of Vocational Education", which stipulates that the city's higher vocational school graduates are included in the scope of civil servant recruitment, which has aroused social attention and heated discussions.
Many experts said that this move has brought a good head for the development of vocational education and has a vane significance.
In terms of capital investment, Zeng Tianshan, deputy director of the Vocational Education Development Center of the Ministry of Education, believes that vocational education cannot rely entirely on government investment, and a combination mechanism should be sought between the public welfare logic of schools and the market logic of enterprises.
The new law also responds to this. It will optimize the structure of education expenditures, encourage multi-channels to raise funds for the development of vocational education in accordance with the law, and encourage enterprises, institutions, social organizations and individuals to subsidize and donate to vocational education.
Enhance mutual understanding and trust between schools and enterprises
At present, China has built the world's largest vocational education system, with 11,200 vocational schools and more than 29.15 million students, but only about 30% of skilled workers are highly skilled.
How to cultivate more skilled craftsmen in the development of vocational education?
In talent training, the quality of teaching is very important, and its root lies in teachers.
A vocational teacher revealed that in the local area, the teachers of secondary vocational schools are mainly fresh graduates of colleges and universities, and it is difficult to recruit suitable professional teachers.
"It is not enough to rely on the teaching team of vocational schools. It is necessary to build a new type of double-qualified teachers of 'school double teachers + enterprise trainers'." He Zhen introduced that the new law has strengthened the construction of vocational education teachers and established and improved vocational education teachers. Cultivate a training system, and encourage vocational schools to hire skilled masters, labor models, skilled craftsmen, and representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage to serve as full-time and part-time teachers and set up studios.
The integration of production and education and school-enterprise cooperation are the development model of vocational education and an important way to cultivate high-skilled talents.
However, in practice, school-enterprise cooperation often faces the dilemma of being superficial and not in-depth.
Chongqing Longmenhao Vocational Middle School has figured out its own way.
In the classroom of the school's intelligent manufacturing public training base, technicians from Chongqing Electromechanical Additive Manufacturing Co., Ltd. are explaining 3D printing technology and operating specifications to the students.
The training base is jointly built by enterprises and schools, and provides training opportunities for thousands of students every year.
In addition to "school-in-factory", there is also "factory-in-school".
In the production workshop of Chongqing Mengxun Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., which is located in Chayuan New District, Nan'an District, Chongqing, more than 100 interns of Longmen Hao Vocational High School are distributed in various operation sections. "guide.
"We also set up a 'order class' and a 'modern apprenticeship class', where schools and enterprises jointly formulate talent training plans, co-write textbooks, recruit students, and train together." Zhong Daiwen, the principal of Longmen Hao Vocational High School, has a deep understanding. Only by cultivating and strengthening win-win points, enhancing understanding and mutual trust between schools and enterprises, integrating production and education, and school-enterprise cooperation can we go further and further.”
"How to effectively play the main role of enterprises has always been a difficulty in the integration of production and education and school-enterprise cooperation." Chen Lixiang said that the new law further emphasizes the main role of enterprises, for example, guiding enterprises to set up apprenticeships in a certain proportion, encouraging and supporting technical skills Enterprises with talent training capabilities carry out multi-form cooperation with vocational schools, and implement incentives, tax incentives and other policy support for enterprises participating in the integration of production and education.
If there is demand, it will be welcomed.
"Industry-education integration and school-enterprise cooperation must be guided by industrial needs and avoid being out of touch with economic and social development." He Zhen believes that only in this way can a differential pattern of vocational education models be formed, with complete industry categories, different industrial forms, and technical skills. Iterative industrial development and transformation and upgrading provide various technical and skilled talents.
"At present, it is necessary to continuously improve the status and treatment of technical and skilled talents, provide a platform for them to show their skills and learn from them, and create a social atmosphere in which the country values skills, the society respects skills, everyone learns skills, and everyone has skills, so as to inspire more Workers, especially young people, take the road of becoming talented with skills and serving the country with skills." Chen Lixiang said.