German "Work Process Oriented Theory" And Its Value In Vocational & Technical Education

Germany is a traditional country of strong Vocational & Technical Education. Its "Dual System" of Vocational Education is remarkable worldwide. After entering the era of knowledge economy, its "Dual System" met unprecedented difficulty. The German did bold reform and made improvement and supplements to it. Since 1920s, the theory which guides the Vocational Education reform is "Work Process Oriented Theory". This article does a systematic research on its theory and practice.This article will firstly talk about the evolution and background of this Work Process Oriented Theory. Its prototype can be seen in educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi's idea at the end of 19th century and the beginning of 20th century. Later on, due to the combined effect of many factors, such as other educators' (e.g. Georg Kerschensteiner,etc) practice and development of the theory, the evolution of Vocational Education System in the 20th century, the pressure of economic development in German, the need of flexible management in modern enterprises, the difficult situation of "Dual System", and the training and internship positions shortage because of the global economy and population change, "Work Process Oriented Theory" came into being in German."Work Process Oriented Theory" originated from Germany is inevitable. It is based on Gestalt Psychology. The theory itself is influenced by German Design-oriented Vocational Education Theory, Work-based Theory and Personality-based Theory in the Life-long Vocational Education ideology."Work Process Oriented Theory" is based on the learners' vocational competent development and starts from the knowledge of work process. It takes work process as the standard of curriculum development and act-orientation as the guide principle for teaching and learning. The implementation of adding "Study Field" courses in vocational schools and recommending "Learning-oriented" mode enterprises, it has pointed a novel development road for the vocational education, provided an open choice for the individuals, established the knowledge and skills base for the learners' vocation development and helped to smooth the transition from learning to working for learners. On the basis of document analysis, this article analyzes the ideology values of Working Process Oriented Theory. This theory has the ultimate value of concerning individual development, the practical value of meeting the needs of the development of enterprises, economy and vocational schools. It also reveals that the starting point of Vocational Education is "vocation". The essence is "practice". And the way out is "School-enterprise Cooperation". So it has important education value as well. At the end of the article, the author thinks about the tendency of Chinese Vocational Education in the future together with the hot topic of "School-enterprise Cooperation" in China.