From Grading to Classification: The Reform and Development Path of Vocational Education

The tremendous economic and social changes over the past 40 years of reform and opening-up have provided a seedbed for the historic achievements in the development of vocational education in China.The development of vocational education over the past 40 years can be divided into three phases: the restoration and development phase of secondary vocational education in the 1980s, the phase of stability and consolidation in the 1990s, and the phase of strengthening the system and comprehensively deepening foundations since the 21st century. From starting everything from scratch in the 1980s to the intense hard work in the 1990s, and then to the scientific development in the 21st century, vocational education has come through a crucial historical period. It has developed more systemically and deeply than any other period in history. At present, China’s vocational education has entered a new era. The main challenges faced by vocational education in the new era include: to further consolidate the status of vocational education and accomplish each connection smoothly; to establish a national institutional platform for school-enterprise cooperation; to set up a scientific assessment system in order to analyze labor demand for industrial development; to build national professional teaching standards for vocational education; to establish a standardized and systematic training system for vocational education teachers; and to enhance top-level design and advance the implementation of a modern apprenticeship system.

Xu Guoqing is currently President of Institute of Vocational and Adult Education, East China Normal University. He is mainly engaged in vocational education courses and theoretical research on vocational education.