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【zhang min】

"zhang hua was admitted to peking university; li ping entered a secondary technical school; i worked as a salesperson in a department store: we all had bright futures."

when the school starts in september 2024, 35,500 students will enter secondary vocational schools and become secondary vocational students. will they have a "bright future"?

vocational education and general education together constitute the "dual track" of education in our country. in a certain historical period, the two were on an equal footing and complemented each other, providing society with different types of talents.

however, due to various reasons, these two tracks have gradually become unbalanced. general education is far superior to vocational education in terms of both the quality of students and educational resources. vocational education has even been discriminated against and stigmatized to a certain extent. the idea that only children who are not good at studying go to vocational schools has been deeply rooted in people's minds, and receiving vocational education has become a "last resort" choice. vocational education has thus declined, and the serious imbalance of the "general and vocational structure" has further led to a mismatch of human resources: university graduates have difficulty finding jobs and there is a shortage of skilled workers in my country's labor market.

today, the college entrance examination has become a major national event, and the future of many families depends on it. however, few people remember that its full name is "national unified college entrance examination", which is only one of the "dual tracks". with the increase of employment pressure and the improvement of vocational education level, many people have realized that there are actually huge possibilities outside of the college entrance examination. i would also like to take this opportunity to talk to you systematically about the topic of vocational education.

this article explores five questions:

1. what is vocational education? what misunderstandings do we have about vocational education?

2. why does the phenomenon of “imbalance between general and vocational education” occur?

3. how did vocational education in new china rise and decline? what are the reasons behind it?

4. what measures are needed to revive vocational education and restore the balance of the "general and vocational structure"? and what can't be done?

5. in recent years, the country has vigorously developed vocational education. what achievements have been made and what are the shortcomings?

this is the second part. click here for the first part.

in the science and technology park of the xiannü lake campus of jiangxi engineering college in xinyu city, teachers lead students to carry out practical operations in the intelligent manufacturing training workshop. photo by zhao chunliang (china economic vision)

4. how to revive vocational education

the reason why vocational school education in my country is not doing well is not because of discrimination, but because it is not doing well, it is discriminated against. and the reason why vocational schools are not doing well is definitely not because they don’t know how to do it.

as early as the 1980s, my country began to learn from the advanced experience of foreign vocational education. over the past 40 years, no less than 100,000 people have been sent to germany to learn from it. after the state council put forward the "decision on vigorously developing vocational education" in 2005, the number of scientific research articles soared, exceeding 200,000 in less than 20 years. many local governments have also signed cooperation agreements with relevant german institutions and directly moved german vocational schools to china.

however, the problems of vocational schools are only a small part of the problems of vocational schools themselves. behind them, what is reflected is the structural defects in my country's education system. to develop vocational education and change the imbalance between general and vocational education, the expansion of academic qualifications, and the mismatch of skills, we cannot just focus on vocational schools, but need to first systematically reconstruct the so-called "dual track system" and weaken, rather than strengthen, the stratification between general schools and vocational schools through the system.

specific measures include but are not limited to: setting up an independent vocational school admissions system, especially for secondary vocational schools and general high school admissions, and never using the same set of examination papers; canceling any compulsory diversion policies and setting a more flexible diversion time; ensuring the two-way smooth transition channels between general schools and vocational schools, especially lowering the threshold for vocational school students to transfer to general schools; ensuring that the two tracks have the same prospects for further study, secondary vocational school students and general high school students should have the same chances to obtain higher education, and students from general colleges and vocational colleges should also have the same opportunities to obtain higher-level academic qualifications and degrees.

in fact, the core of these measures is one word: equality. in the real world, every child starts at a different starting line and uses different running equipment. however, a basic goal of the modern education system is to at least ensure that the track is the same, with the same starting point and end point, and the same hurdles to cross. if it is a "dual track system", then we must ensure the equality of the two tracks, and make vocational education and general education two equal types of education, rather than the former being a "school level" below the latter.

5. achievements and shortcomings of vocational education

allocation of educational resources

however, equality is not so easy to achieve, especially when vocational schools have long suffered from systematic discrimination. in addition to institutional guarantees, the allocation of educational resources is equally important.

vocational schools at all levels are weaker than ordinary schools of the same level in terms of educational funding and teaching staff. in 2019, the state council issued the "national vocational education reform implementation plan", emphasizing that new educational funding should be tilted towards vocational education, and the per capita fiscal allocation level of secondary vocational schools in various places should be appropriately higher than that of local ordinary high schools. higher vocational education should gradually increase its funding level on the basis of no less than 12,000 per student.

however, according to the announcement of the ministry of education, by 2022, the average teaching funding per student in secondary vocational schools will be 23,470 yuan, an increase of 1.2% over the previous year, and the average teaching funding per student in ordinary high schools will be 24,854 yuan, an increase of 2.8% over the previous year. the gap between the two seems to have widened. in the stage of higher education, the average per-student funding for ordinary colleges and universities nationwide is 39,220 yuan, and the per-student funding for higher vocational colleges has not been announced. i simply used the total investment of 339.2 billion yuan and divided it by 16.71 million students, which came out to 20,300 yuan, which is "up to standard", but only half of that of ordinary colleges and universities.

let's look at the ratio of students to teachers: 13:1 for general high schools, 19:1 for secondary vocational schools, 18:1 for general undergraduate schools, and 20:1 for higher vocational colleges. the data for higher education is relatively close, but i calculated it again with the data in the bulletin. there are 19.66 million students in general undergraduate schools, 1.32 million full-time teachers, and a student-teacher ratio of 15:1. there are 16.71 million students in higher vocational colleges, 620,000 full-time teachers, and a student-teacher ratio of 27:1. i am a little confused. why do the two data in the same bulletin not match?

vocational college entrance examination and vocational undergraduate

from a practical point of view, in recent years, my country has indeed increased its investment in vocational school education and made some system optimizations. for example, since 2012, various regions have successively carried out pilot projects of "vocational education college entrance examination". in 2019, the national vocational education reform clarified this system, and higher vocational colleges have independent enrollment channels. last year, the ministry of education issued another document, stating that the vocational education college entrance examination will become the main channel for higher vocational enrollment, and the positioning of secondary vocational schools will also change from employment-oriented to equal emphasis on employment and further study.

for example, the ceiling of vocational education is no longer junior college, but there are more options such as "undergraduate-level vocational education", "applied undergraduate", and "professional degree graduate". the ministry of education has clearly stated that it will further expand vocational undergraduate education and open up the "upgrade ban", supporting some qualified junior college-level higher vocational colleges to independently upgrade to vocational undergraduate schools, or upgrade some junior college majors and pilot vocational undergraduate programs.

for another example, in 2022, after nearly 26 years, the national people's congress revised the vocational education law for the first time. at least at the legal level, it clearly stipulated that vocational education and general education have "equal" status.

however, to level the "dual tracks", the steps are neither big enough nor difficult. take the "vocational undergraduate" mentioned above as an example. as early as 2014, the ministry of education stated that it would urge more than 600 local undergraduate colleges to transform into applied technology colleges, accounting for half of the more than 1,200 undergraduate colleges in the country. subsequently, relevant state departments have also issued documents many times to encourage and guide colleges and universities to transform and hold undergraduate vocational education. in 2021, relevant goals were even included in the "14th five-year plan". however, as of june 2023, there are only 33 vocational undergraduate colleges, enrolling 76,000 students, less than 2% of the enrollment in higher vocational colleges and 1% of the total enrollment in colleges and universities.

let's talk about the "vocational education college entrance examination". this word should be put in quotation marks, because so far, there is no national unified higher vocational college entrance examination in my country that can correspond to the "college entrance examination" - that is, the national unified college entrance examination. although there is the concept of "vocational education college entrance examination" and national policies, each province basically manages its own. first, the scope of enrollment is mainly local colleges and universities recruiting local graduates, and there are very few cross-regional ones. secondly, there are great differences in how the "vocational education college entrance examination" is conducted. in some places, it is a unified examination and single recruitment, in some places, it is a cultural unified examination and a skill single examination, and in some places, the province is only responsible for coordination and supervision, and the setting of questions and enrollment are arranged by the colleges and universities themselves. even the names are different in different places. some call it "spring college entrance examination", some call it "higher vocational college single recruitment", and some call it "three schools college entrance examination", "corresponding enrollment", "classification recruitment", and so on.

as for what is tested specifically, there are even more problems. it is not a big problem to test cultural knowledge, as you can just use a set of papers for chinese, mathematics and foreign languages; but it is a big problem to test skills. there are dozens of major categories of majors, so how to determine the scope, standards, format and scoring of the exams? anyway, everyone will just grope their way around. some provinces will test skill operation; some will just have an interview, ask a few questions, and test the "comprehensive quality" of students in about 10 minutes; some will only have written tests, testing professional theories or career adaptability; and some provinces do not have skill tests at all, and vocational high school entrance exams are still only tested in chinese, mathematics and foreign languages.

with so many different types of "vocational education college entrance examinations", it is hard to say that the results are fair. as for the fairness between the "vocational education college entrance examinations" and the unified college entrance examination, there is still a long way to go.

higher vocational colleges are still a "level" and the admission batches have to be ranked last. ordinary high school graduates who want to study at higher vocational colleges can completely go through the college entrance examination channel. there are no restrictions on the colleges and majors they apply for. the admission score is low and there is no need to take a skills test. if they want to take various "vocational education college entrance examinations", there are also many ways. generally speaking, it is not more difficult than secondary vocational students, and there are even fewer restrictions. on the other hand, it takes several steps for secondary vocational students to "upgrade" to the undergraduate level. readers can share their own experiences in the comment area.

interestingly, the "vocational education college entrance examination" system was originally open to both general high school and secondary vocational school students. at the end of 2021, the national people's congress proposed to lower the threshold for secondary vocational school students to enter higher education. in the ministry of education's reply, it emphasized the need to conduct the "vocational education college entrance examination". this reply sparked heated discussions in society, and many people wondered whether the vocational education college entrance examination was a college entrance examination for secondary vocational school students?

to this end, china youth daily published an expert article to clarify. let me summarize it for you: the "vocational education college entrance examination" allows all high school graduates to apply; it cannot become a college entrance examination that only belongs to vocational school graduates, because this will make the vocational education college entrance examination a lower level than the general college entrance examination, which is not conducive to the integration of general and vocational education; general high school graduates can participate, which means that general high schools should also offer vocational skills courses for students who want to choose the "vocational education college entrance examination" in the future; regions with conditions can further explore the abolition of the general and vocational diversion of the high school entrance examination, establish comprehensive high schools that integrate general and vocational education, and start academic and skill courses at the same time, so that students can choose what classes to take and what exams to take; if you are worried that general high school students will squeeze out the opportunities for vocational school students to enter higher education, the correct response should be to strengthen the role of skill tests, optimize their forms, and increase their weight, so as to increase the competitive advantage of vocational school students in the exam, rather than reducing the competitiveness of the exam by restricting registration.

the idea is very good. unfortunately, since last year, many places have changed their practice and restricted the registration of general high school graduates, turning the "vocational education college entrance examination" into a college entrance examination for secondary vocational school students. various intermediaries, training institutions, and even some local government departments have also used this as a selling point, emphasizing that the vocational education college entrance examination is easy to take, has fewer questions, fewer candidates, and weaker opponents.

however, this is exactly what the vocational college entrance examination should avoid, because it confirms that the vocational college entrance examination is inferior to the general college entrance examination. if vocational colleges want to recruit fresh graduates from general high schools, they have to recruit from the general college entrance examination, and honestly queue up in the last batch to wait for the rest, which confirms that they are inferior to general colleges.

cancel the "diversion" of the high school entrance examination and "integration of general and vocational education" in high school

regarding the integration of general education and vocational education in high school, many representatives and members of the national people's congress and the chinese people's political consultative conference in early 2022 called for the abolition of the diversion system, or at least the reform of the diversion system, from rigid to flexible, without setting a fixed ratio, and for diversion after high school in places with conditions. however, the attitude of the ministry of education is still that the diversion of general education and vocational education in the high school entrance examination is very necessary.

in april, the new vocational education law was passed, canceling the phrase "implementing education diversion at different stages with a focus on post-junior high school" in the old vocational education law, and using the phrase "coordinated development of general and vocational education". the final published text also removed the word "classification" in the draft for comments. some experts and media interpreted this as meaning that compulsory diversion in the high school entrance examination will become weaker and weaker, and diversion will be gradually cancelled. the ministry of education immediately responded: this is a misunderstanding. at different stages after compulsory education, vocational education and general education must develop in a coordinated manner. it seems that the two tracks in high school still need to be clearly distinguished, and the integration of general and vocational education is not yet expected.

however, in my opinion, canceling the high school entrance examination and delaying the general vocational education system to high school is imperative for the development of vocational education. the reason for this is that, in addition to the fact that the high school entrance examination itself will create huge unfairness and have a destructive impact on the vocational education system, there are two other reasons.

first, the change in the rate of secondary vocational education. in fact, if we look back, when the education structure was reformed in the 1980s and secondary vocational education was developed, there was actually a presumption that secondary vocational school graduates would go to work and go to school after high school graduation, because there were too few higher vocational schools at that time, and secondary vocational school students had no place to go to school.

the situation is very different now. in 2021, the total number of secondary vocational school graduates who went on to higher education exceeded 1.8 million, accounting for 55.9%, and the proportion of direct employment was less than 40%. this is the average level, and the enrollment rate in some regions is even higher. for example, in beijing, shenzhen, and shanghai, the figures in 2022 were 92%, 89%, and 76%, respectively. some provinces and cities in the central and western regions are not low either, such as nanning city 76.94%, tibet as a whole 60%, and gansu 72% in 2021.

a scholar surveyed more than 20,000 secondary vocational students in 24 cities in six western provinces, and found that more than 80% of them wanted to continue their studies. nearly 60% of the students clearly stated that they hoped to improve their fate by improving their academic qualifications. in other words, if it were not for objective conditions, such as the family's financial conditions not allowing it, or there were too few local higher vocational colleges, they would want to continue studying instead of working.

our country is in the process of industrial upgrading, and various jobs have higher and higher requirements for comprehensive quality and professional ability. coupled with the expansion of academic qualifications, higher education background has become the basic requirement for many professions, and secondary vocational education is not enough. a while ago, a video went viral on video websites. some secondary vocational school students said that they were forced by the school to screw screws in the factory, and their internship wages were deducted. in response to the students' complaints, the principal said shamelessly: we are a normal internship in the unit, what can a secondary vocational school student do? he is not a college student!

after hearing this, i think many readers will first feel angry, but then feel a little sad. what can secondary school students do? this question is probably rooted in the hearts of many students and is also the primary motivation for them to go to college.

since most secondary vocational students want to or have already taken the path of further education, what we need to consider is whether the content of secondary vocational education can lay the foundation for higher vocational education, rather than whether they can acquire the necessary skills for employment, because employment preparation can be completed at the higher education stage. so, is secondary vocational education now closely connected with higher vocational education, and is it necessary for higher vocational education?

the answer is no.

this is the second reason. on the one hand, the content of secondary vocational education is seriously out of touch with higher vocational education. there is a gap in professional settings, curriculum design, training programs, teaching management and other aspects. in addition, many secondary vocational schools nowadays are only focused on squeezing money out of students and do not teach well at all. therefore, even if it is the same field or related major, after entering higher vocational schools, everything may have to be learned from scratch.

on the other hand, there is a trend of diversified student sources in higher vocational colleges. the 2019 government work report proposed to "encourage more high school graduates, retired soldiers, laid-off workers, migrant workers, etc. to apply for admission", which kicked off the "million-level enrollment expansion" of higher vocational colleges. vocational school students and general high school students, fresh graduates and former graduates, and people from all corners of society who hope to improve their fate are all on the stage of higher vocational colleges to get the key to open their next life.

they have different experiences, different knowledge reserves, and different skill levels. when recruiting, some of them still have to apply and are exempt from entrance examinations, because there is no way to take the exam. diversified student sources are certainly not a bad thing. but this puts forward new requirements for the teaching methods of higher vocational colleges; secondly, if students with different foundations can complete higher vocational education and obtain a diploma, it means that completing secondary vocational education is not a necessary condition for completing higher vocational education. in fact, compared with other sources of students, secondary vocational schools also limit students' choices. in the current education system, it is not easy for secondary vocational students to cross majors in the future. if you study cooking in a technical secondary school, but want to choose the automotive major in a higher vocational school, then you might as well not go to this technical secondary school.

changes in the student source structure of mobile business major in a vocational college in guangdong

after finishing secondary vocational school, you will most likely continue to study at a higher vocational school, but what you learn in secondary vocational school is not very helpful for studying at a higher vocational school. even if you have not studied at a secondary vocational school, preparations for employment - whether it is learning professional theories, acquiring professional skills, or improving comprehensive literacy - can be completed at the higher vocational stage. so, what is the significance of the existence of secondary vocational schools?

this is why i am against post-junior high school streaming. first, the rough and tough streaming method undermines educational fairness. second, at the current stage of development, the value of secondary vocational schools is becoming increasingly weak. however, this does not mean that there should be no vocational education in high school. on the contrary, vocational education should be strengthened in high school to help students choose their career path, lay a solid foundation, and prepare for higher vocational education, including higher vocational college education and general university education.

therefore, at the high school stage, we need to integrate general and vocational education and carry out flexible diversion, breaking down secondary vocational education into smaller units and turning it into vocational skills courses for ordinary high schools. just like the division between arts and sciences, students can choose which set of courses to take, take the corresponding exams, and enter applied or academic universities.

for students who want to find employment directly after graduation, we can also refer to japan's practice, extend the high school system, add one year of employment courses, and help students enter the society. some of the original secondary vocational schools can be changed into ordinary high schools with vocational education characteristics, and some can be transformed into higher vocational preparatory courses, closely linked with higher vocational colleges, and carry out five-year continuous training. there are also some famous vocational schools with strong professionalism, close school-enterprise cooperation, and graduates who have no worries about employment, which can be retained to give students more diverse choices.

deep involvement of enterprises

general education and vocational education each have their own strengths. making the two equal in terms of systems and resources is only the first step. to truly revive vocational schools - yes, i used the word "revival" - we must give full play to the advantages of vocational schools on an equal basis. this is not just a matter of education, because although vocational schools are educational institutions, they are in the market. its advantage lies in its close connection with employment - or more specifically, with the needs of enterprises. the deep participation of enterprises is a necessary condition for running vocational schools well.

as we mentioned earlier, in germany, enterprises are the absolute main body of vocational education. enrollment and teaching are all decided by enterprises, and teachers and funds are mainly provided by enterprises. since enterprises have invested money and effort to let vocational schools "tailor" future employees for themselves, they will naturally let them work for them after graduation. in this way, vocational students will not have to worry about finding jobs. students can find jobs, enterprises can recruit workers, and schools can run well. all three parties benefit - this whole set of logic is reasonable.

but in our country, after the separation of school and enterprise in the 1990s, the connection between the two has been pitifully small. not to mention that enterprises are dominant, just the "cooperation" is already full of difficulties. enterprises do not contribute money or manpower, and do not care about how schools teach. of course, many of the problems here are not caused by enterprises.

for example, the systematic discrimination against vocational schools in society will definitely affect the attitude of enterprises. vocational schools are discriminated against in terms of enrollment and allocation of educational resources. the source of students and teaching quality are not ideal. enterprises are unwilling to recruit workers from vocational schools, and naturally they are unwilling to invest resources in vocational school education.

for another example, even if companies want to cooperate with vocational schools, it is not an easy task. the communication channels between companies and schools are limited and there is a lack of regulations. after the separation of schools and enterprises, the competent departments of most vocational schools have been adjusted from major economic functional departments to local education departments. however, school-enterprise cooperation and the integration of production and education must involve enterprises and production and operation. whether it is formulating norms, supervision and management, or matchmaking and active promotion, it is definitely not possible for the education department to fight alone. the competent industry departments and human resources and social security departments must work together, and an intermediary agency that can coordinate schools and enterprises at the same time is needed for specific implementation. however, in our country, cross-departmental cooperation has always been a difficult point, needless to say.

as for the role of intermediary institutions, in foreign countries, it is generally performed by industry associations. however, in my country, industry associations are still in the early stages of development. industry associations in many industries have neither the ability nor the willingness to assume such responsibilities. a survey in 2016 showed that more than 90% of schools and enterprises believed that industry associations did not play any role in the cooperation between the two parties.

i mentioned earlier that the importance of industry associations for vocational education cannot be overemphasized. on the one hand, in addition to providing channels and norms, they are also directly involved in adjusting the syllabus, setting examination standards, and organizing various vocational skills tests. the reason why vocational schools can keep up with market changes and cultivate talents according to market demand is due to the contributions of industry associations. on the other hand, without the coordination and integration of industry organizations, it is difficult for the majority of small and medium-sized enterprises to directly cooperate with vocational schools in the form of individuals. among the enterprises involved in school-enterprise cooperation, 80% are state-owned enterprises, foreign-funded and joint venture enterprises account for 17%, and other private enterprises account for less than 3%.

the integration of schools and enterprises in the early years gave birth to the glory of vocational schools, but after the reform of the enterprise system, the connection between vocational schools and enterprises has never been re-established. the more market-oriented the industry is, the worse the development of vocational schools is. in those industries that have retained some of the old system, such as the railway system, the school-enterprise cooperation is doing well, which is really a bit sad.

although the state has intensively introduced many policies to "promote the integration of industry and education and strengthen school-enterprise cooperation" since 2016, it is probably not something that can be solved at the policy level to revive vocational schools. the deep cooperation between vocational schools and enterprises represents the comprehensive integration of education and the market. our education system and the way the market operates must be adjusted accordingly. the scale and depth of this reform are probably not weaker than the huge changes that spanned the 1980s and 1990s.

conclusion

the fairness of education supply and the matching degree between education supply and market demand determine the success or failure of vocational education, and indirectly affect economic prosperity and social welfare through vocational education. huang yanpei said that vocational education can make "the unemployed have jobs and the employed enjoy their jobs". if vocational education is not done well, the people can only choose between "unemployment" and "unhappy work", and enterprises cannot recruit enough technical talents. personal happiness, economic development, and the progress of civilization are probably out of the question.

due to many historical and current reasons, there are still many defects in our country's vocational education. reform is imperative, not vocational education reform, but education reform, which is to reform all institutional arrangements involved in the discovery, training and employment of technical talents. it involves a wide range of aspects and requires great efforts. it is absolutely difficult to achieve without great perseverance and determination. the current reform measures are probably only a temporary solution, and even policies such as "middle school entrance examination diversion" are still having a counterproductive effect.

at the end of the article, i would like to quote a passage written by yang jintu, a famous contemporary chinese vocational education researcher and former director of the vocational education and adult education department of the ministry of education in 2006, to summarize and answer the questions raised at the beginning. he said:

"there are many factors that affect the development of vocational education in my country, especially teachers and funding. however, the main factor currently hindering the development of vocational education in my country is the distorted educational values ​​and talent concepts, which have led to many practical difficulties. the selection function of current education has been excessively expanded and even become the main function of education. moreover, everyone is often measured by only one standard, thus turning the education process into a competition of test-taking ability...

individual diversity has been denied, and the diversity of social needs has been ignored; the diversity of education types has been alienated into the hierarchy between education types, and vocational education has become an auxiliary system to ensure elite selection, used to buffer the fluctuations in the student capacity in the selection channel; the "diversion" of the population of different education types should have been an active, autonomous, and enjoyable selection activity, but in fact it has become a re-entry of being selected and eliminated, favored and discriminated. the idea of ​​"every profession has its top scholar" has been denied, and in real life, only one kind of "top scholar in exams" is often recognized; the ancient saying "failure is the mother of success" has also been denied, and our education punishes "academic failure" almost every day. a large number of students who are considered academic failures enter the vocational education system, so vocational education is regarded as inferior education by society, and it is taken for granted that its development is not treated fairly. "