The Changes Of Vocational Education Policies In People’s Republic Of China(1949-2019)

Vocational education is an important platform for China to participate in the international talent competition,and serves as an important bond linking education,occupation and economic and social development together.The policy of vocational education is a pointer to standardize the direction and path of vocational education development.It is not only a specific reflection of the importance the country attaches to the development of vocational education,but also a driving force for the development of vocational education.This research adopts the perspective of Historical Institutionalism and put vocational education policy at the center axis of the theoretical analysis.The thesis carries on a systematic carding and classification of vocational education policies from 1949 to 2019 in People’s Republic of China from the unique view of Historical Institutionalism regarding time,history and system so as to interpret the rich implications of policies.The paper also systematically grasps the context,policy environment,main content and actual effect of the development of vocational education policies,making reasonable attribution to the policy changes of vocational education,and revealing the main characteristics of vocational education policies in different historical stages and the possible directions of the evolution of policies.This research consists of four parts:The first part is the Introduction,starting from the review of the research background,research significance and academic history,followed by a differentiation of Historical Institutionalism,Vocational Education,Vocational Education Policy and other related concepts.The paper further clarifies the objectives,main content and main methods of the research.Then,this part briefly introduces the theoretical basis for changes of vocational education policies and the possible innovation of this study.This part also constructs an analytical paradigm regarding changes of vocational education policies and path dependence,putting forth the explanatory framework of macro-structure,middle-level-institution and micro-actors as three levels.The second part consists of Chapter 1 and Chapter 2,which studies the changes of vocational education policies in People’s Republic of China in different stages.The methodology of Historical Institutionalism is helpful to analyze the changes of vocational education policies over a long period.China’s vocational education policies have gone through 70 years of changes.In different historical periods,vocational education system and teaching mode have been reformed continuously.To be specific,policy changes of vocational education before reform and opening up can be divided into three stages:vocational education policy in the transitional period(1949-1956),vocational education policy in the exploration period of socialist construction(1957-1966),and vocational education policy in the "Cultural Revolution"(1966-1977).The changes of vocational education policies since the reform and opening-up basically go through five stages:stage of internal demands(1978-1989),stage of consolidating and improving(1990-1998),stage of expansion(1999-2009),stage of promoting further connotations(2010-2016),and stage of high quality development(2017-2019).Serving as the main body of this study,this part is intended to present a systematic review and summary of the analysis of policy environment,the major documents and contents of policies,the main characteristics of policies and actual impacts and other aspects.In the research,this thesis analyzes the structural interactions among economic development,political system,and macroeconomic factors such as cultural concepts and the following influences,trying to figure out the influences from the past on the present by searching for the historical trajectory of events.The thesis adopts a Historical Institutionalism time view,introducing the key nodes,sequence,events to the analysis when tracing the history of changes of China’s vocational education policies.Starting from vertical linear historical sequence and horizontal point-like historical node,this thesis emphasizes on the analysis of the particularities of vocational education policies in different periods,while taking the influences of endogenous mechanism and accidental factors into a close observation,attempting to present a specific and vivid history of changes of People’s Republic of China’s vocational education policies.Chapter 3 is the third part,which analyzes the motivation,path dependence and effectiveness of policy changes of vocational education in People’s Republic of China.History is not only the temporal existence of the past,but also determines the realistic existence of the present.After making a general survey of the changing course of China’s vocational education policy,two findings can be concluded.On the one hand,the vocational education system has the characteristics of endogenesis.The evolution of policies follows its own law of development,which is in a process of gradual and continuous improvement.On the other hand,vocational education policies are under the influence of contingent variables.While the actions interact with the institutions,the contingency in the historical process leads to the occurrence of accidental institutional changes.Through an analysis on the factors causing policy changes of vocational education in the period before and after the reform and opening up and the eight key nodes,this part focuses on the discussion of role of exogenous variables,endogenous variables and the actors variables in policy changes of vocational education.Chapter 3 also makes a reasonable attribution to the policy changes of vocational education from two aspects,namely,the rational choice of government and schools,analyzes the input efficiency and output efficiency,and reveals the double effects of policy changes of vocational education.Chapter 4 is the fourth part,which summarizes the basic law and historical experience of policy changes of vocational education.Policy changes of China’s vocational education show the characteristics of "broken equilibrium" at different key points.The causes leading to this phenomenon are as follows.First,the political structure shapes the change direction of vocational education system.Second,the economic structure adjusts the evolution process of vocational education policy.Third,the interest subject checks and balances the iterative update of vocational education policy.After the founding of People’s Republic of China,the precious vocational education policy was in urgent need of reform.The vocational education polices in this period experienced five stages in general,namely,the establishment of professional and technical education system,the establishment of secondary vocational schools,the development of technical schools and workers’ education,the establishment of urban vocational schools,and the stagnation of vocational education during the "Cultural Revolution".Reform and opening-up,which opens a new chapter of development,is an important node in the course of People’s Republic of China’s history.In this period,China successively introduced various measures of vocational education reform,while vocational education also ushered in the climax of its development.In a word,the historical experience from the changes of vocational education policies in People’s Republic of China is that we need to consistently perfect the vocational education policies and build a unified and coordinated motive mechanism of vocational education.What’s more,the evaluation mechanism needs to change from "single utility" to "multiple orientation".The previous vocational education policies have a lasting impact on the subsequent vocational education development.At the same time,the subsequent evolutions of policies are the results of summing up previous experience and succeeding to the historical practice.In the new era,opportunities and challenges coexist in the development of vocational education.In particular,higher vocational education and vocational education at undergraduate level have developed rapidly;secondary vocational education recovers and develops systematically as it gradually extends to rural areas.Hence,vocational education fulfills its important role in serving "agriculture,rural areas and farmers" and helping achieving a moderately prosperous society in all respects.In the new era,China pays more attention to the development of vocational education and elevates it to a strategic height,promoting a sustainable development of vocational education towards a higher quality.