A Study On The European Union Vocational Education And Training Policy In The Beginning Of The 21^st Century

With the emerging knowledge economy and accelerative globalization, the enlarged EU stands at a turning point but faces new challenges. The important role of vocational education and training (VET) in promoting the development of economy and society has been a consensus in the EU. From 2000 to 2007, a series of policies and measures in the field of VET have been made and implemented aiming at promoting cooperation in the field of VET, raising the level of working people's technical skill, promoting the overall competitiveness and social cohesion in Europe. The research, which focuses on the experiences of EU in the process of developing its VET system, must provide good reference and experience for our country to establish and perfect the VET system, improve VET's quality, solve unemployment and promote social cohension. The whole research has been developed in five chapters:The background of the development of EU VET policies is analyzed in ChapterI, including it's developing history before the 21th century and the challenges anddriving forces facing and behind its develpment at the beginning of the 21th century.By tracing the changes of policy priorities in different stages, main motivators forthese changes are analyzed.The historical process of the development of EU VET policies after entering the 21th century is presented in Chapter II. The trace of the development of EU VET policies draws a whole picture of a gradual consolidation and deepening of EU VET strategies, objectives and priorities.Chapter III goes deep into the overall goals and policy framework of EU VET policies which based on the Lisbon strategy in the new century. And also, the "Education & Training 2010" work programme, which is one of the most important policy document in the field of EU VET, is analyzed from the aspects of its form, contents, implementation and progress as a case study.In chapter IV, some new characteristics of EU VET policies after entering the 21th century with the changes of policy background are analyzed and summarized, including: putting emphasis on the quality improvement, pursuing cooperation, unifying fairness and efficiency , aiming at promoting the free mobility of citizens, making the open method of coordination (OMC) as the main implementing mechanism and programme and project as the main implementing form.In chapter V, a review and summary of the development of EU VET policies in the 21th century (post-Lisbon) has been made through a comparative ananlysis with those in the time of post-Maastricht (1992) from the aspects of legal basis, guiding principles, main policies and potential influence on the member states, aiming at gaining a better understanding of the continuity and changing process of the development of EU VET policies. And also, based on the previous study, this chapter then speculates on the existing problems and the possible development trends of EU VET policies in the near future.