On The Study Of Individual’s Demand To Secondary Vocational Education In The Perspective Of "Supply-side Reform"

Since 21st century,vocational education has been positioned to a significant demand by the government and the society,and the governors and scholars have recognized that vocational education should be highly developed in order to promote economic development.Vocational education is education that prepares people to work in a trade,in a craft,as a technician,or in support roles in professions such as engineering,accountancy,nursing,medicine,architecture,or law.Vocational education can take place at the secondary,post-secondary,further education,and higher education level;and can interact with the apprenticeship system.However secondary vocational education is facing the insufficient effective demand Reviewing the historical evolution of individuals’ demand to secondary vocational education,though it was very popular-a golden period,and less interested for a while.In order to promote the development of secondary vocational education in China,Chinese government made a series of reform actions,for example,the scale of student recruitment should be same approximately between the common high school education and secondary vocational education during the high school education;secondary vocational education is free to all students,ect..These reform actions have made some positive progress in developing secondary vocational education.However,the student recruitment during 2011-2014 indicates that secondary vocational education is again facing the lack of demand.In November 2015,Chinese president,Jinping Xi proposed the concept of the structural reform of supply-side and emphasized that the new driving force of Chinese economy should change from demand-side to supply-side.In other words,the development of Chinese economy should put focus on strengthening the supply-side reform,improving quality and efficiency of supply system,and enhancing the driving force of sustained economic growth,while appropriately increasing the total demand.This clearly points out the direction of Chinese economic development,i.e.,Chinese economic development should focus on supply-side.Supply-side reform not only involves economic field but also related to education field.In the background of supply-side reform,in this study,we thus investigate individuals’ demand to secondary vocational education not from the demand-side viewpoint but from the supply-side viewpoint according to the analytical framework of new supply-side economics.Acoording to aboved-mentioned logic thinking,we taked Guangxi province for example and solved the demand issue of secondary vocational education from the supply-side viewpoint corresponding to the analytical framework of new supply-side economics.First,we reviewed the historical evolution of individuals’ demand to secondary vocational education,and summarized current conditions of individuals’ demand to secondary vocational education.Secondly,we analyzed the influence of supply mode and supply quality on individuals’ demand to secondary vocational education.Lastly,based on our research and the experience of developing secondary vocational education in developed countries,we made our own proposals to strengthen individuals’ demand to secondary vocational education from the supply-side viewpoint.The major conclusions from our study are(1)the scale of secondary vocational education is declining and the proportion between the common high school education and secondary vocational education is imbalance;(2)the scale of private secondary vocational education is atrophying;(3)students’ desires to secondary vocational education significantly changes before and after they enter secondary vocational schools.The academic record is playing the key role in student’s desire to secondary vocational education.Family economy condition of students is not the major factor but the guarantee of the school to students’ career is gradually import when they chose secondary vocational schools instead of the common high school;(4)Among three supply modes of secondary vocational education,the government should be the main body of the supply of secondary vocational education,enterprises are a complementary to secondary vocational education with focus on specific fields,and vocational education group should be the future development direction of secondary vocational education,and should be encouraged by the government;(5)There is a gap between students’ demand and the supply of secondary vocational education on the all kinds of services offered by vocational schools.To fill in the gap,secondary vocational schools should urgently improve the high-demand but low-satisfaction projects;continue to develop the high-demand while high-satisfaction projects;try the best to improve the middle-demand and middle-satisfaction projects;and put low priority on the low-demand and high-satisfaction projects and the low-demand and low-satisfaction projects.Based on our research and the experience of developing secondary vocational education in developed countries,we made proposals to the government,enterprises,and secondary vocational schools in order to strengthening secondary vocational education.(1)The government should focus on the top-level design of secondary vocational education system by strengthening various supply methods of secondary vocational education;(2)Enterprises should actively invest secondary vocational education and take on their social responsibility;and(3)secondary vocational schools should focus on improving the supply quality and fulfill individuals’ demand of students to secondary vocational education.