Research On The Construction Of Modern Apprenticeship In China's Context

The benefits of vocational education,and more specifically,the benefits of modern apprenticeship to individuals,employers and society,have been widely accepted in many countries.Since China launched the pilot of modern apprenticeship in 2014,the modern apprenticeship system of vocational education has become a hot issue in educational reform,which has attracted extensive attention from the society.However,there are different understandings on how to establish modern apprenticeship in practice.Meanwhile,in researching field,most discussions on this issue focus on the macro level,emphasizing the construction of national legislation and governance system,but the specific issues such as how to legislate and what to govern have not been clarified,and the construction of modern apprenticeship with Chinese characteristics is still groping.In order to better illustrate and solve the problem,this study attempts to study the construction of modern apprenticeship in China's context from the perspective of relative medium and micro.Starting from the connotation of modern apprenticeship,this study clarifies its structural characteristics from the perspective of historical evolution,and sorts out the key factors that may affect the construction of modern apprenticeship based on international comparison.By means of in-depth interview and regression analysis,this study digs out the key factors that affect China's modern apprenticeship.Furthermore,in view of the problems in system implementation and the formation mechanism,this study constructs the modern apprenticeship system in China's context from the perspectives of school operation,regional coordination and national system design.Following results have been found in the present research:Firstly,the essence of the modern apprenticeship is a system of rules,and this realization has been achieved through the evolution of an organized apprenticeship that has lasted for centuries,from the early days of guild apprenticeship to the modern apprenticeship of today.But the transition from traditional to modern apprenticeships has been challenged by economics,politics and culture.In terms of formation mechanism,the change of interaction mode between individual and organization,between individual and organization and government brings about the functional transformation of apprenticeship,and then leads to the change of institutional structure.Secondly,from the perspective of international experience,although modern apprenticeship is very beneficial to students,enterprises and employers as well as the economy,under the background of marketization,how to solve the problem of market failure involved in the process of skill training is still the key problem faced by countries in the process of building modern apprenticeship.To encourage companies to offer apprenticeships,many countries promote apprenticeships through a wide range of incentives,including financial incentives(such as subsidies and tax breaks)and nonfinancial incentives(such as regulatory design)to make it more attractive to business owners.However,because of the size and distribution criteria of financial support,the effects are less pronounced,while non-financial measures that target specific sectors and are supported and institutionally constrained by social partners appear to be more successful.Thirdly,in China's context,participants have different demands on the demand for apprentices and the willingness of business owners to provide positions.By the means of interviews,it is found that: the common goal of interdependence is the premise of school-enterprise joint education,and alleviating the talent shortage is the main motivation for enterprises to participate in modern apprenticeship,but the loss of apprentices is the main challenge faced by enterprises in the process of participation.At the same time,the promotion of modern apprenticeship did increase the cost of enterprises in the short term,and the financial incentives in the periphery mainly came from local governments.However,at present,not only the investment is limited,but also it is project-drivent,which is not conducive to the long-term development of modern apprenticeship.On the other hand,the system rules designed by schools and enterprises in the pilot program have no obvious binding force on the participation behavior of both parties.The adverse effects of liberalized markets have not changed,and the withdrawal of enterprises has occurred from time to time.At the individual level,the survey reveals that: personal interest is the internal cause of apprenticeship participation,and the guarantee of employment is the main purpose of apprentices' participation;in the view of apprentices,the narrow scope of training is the biggest deficiency in the process of apprenticeship training,and master's guidance has the greatest impact on the improvement of apprenticeship skills.It is also found that whether the apprentices are willing to stay in the enterprise is closely related to the training task arrangement of the enterprise.Specifically,in the training,educating apprentices on “the meaning and value of work”,giving apprentices “full autonomy”,the appropriate arrangement of “complex tasks”,“enterprise motivation”,“peer support”,and the “train of thought guidance” from the master in the guidance method have the joint explanatory power to the apprenticeship retention intention.Among them,getting apprentices to understand “meaning and value at work” has the biggest impact.Based on the above,modern apprenticeship in China's context is constructed at three levels:(1)at the school and college level,through the explicit apprenticeship selection system,flexible curriculum system and coordinated management system,many inconsistency problems caused by learning place alternation in the pilot can be solved;(2)at the regional level,the establishment of regional review system can break the management problem of apprenticeship training quality and avoid the collective action dilemma of enterprises through the establishment of inter-enterprise negotiation system.At the same time,we should improve the existing financial input policy to correct the speculation of some enterprises who obtain financial subsidies in the name of “apprenticeship”;(3)at the national level,through the establishment of labour market coordination,national professional teaching standards and certification system,a sound mentor system,and clearing the apprentice entrance pathway,it is expected to solve the problems in the pilot,such as the poor transition between apprenticeship education and the labor market,the weak willingness of apprentices to stay on and the quality evaluation of apprenticeship training.