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SIEF, Vol.11, No.2, 2022 1527
A Meaningful Experiment in
Industry-School Partnership in
Vocational Education
Xiaoqiao Cheng,1 Longjun Zhou2
1. Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210000, Jiangsu, China
2. Jiangsu Second Normal University Nanjing 211200, Jiangsu China
“From a young age I had a real sense of the world of work. This is what
vocational education gives you.”
–Steph McGovern
Abstract: Worldwide, vocational education with an emphasis on industry
has gained popularity. China’s rapid industrial change creates a demand
for individuals with a breadth of skills rather than a tight focus on a single
expertise. Vocational education equips students with practical knowledge,
skills, and abilities, which helps business gain from timely collaboration
between industry and academia.
Keywords: Vocational Education, Skill Training, Education, Business
© 2022 Insights Publisher. All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the
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SIEF, Vol.11, No.2, 2022 1528
NDUSTRY-school collaboration has become a critical component of Chi-
na’s vocational education reform in light of the shift in socioeconomic
development mode and the transformation of industrial structure. Foster
(1992) argues that vocational educators’ primary focus should be the job op-
portunities and development prospects of trainees in the labor market, and
that the development of vocational and technical education should be based
on genuine labor market needs. This concept has developed into a consensus
among researchers regarding the role of vocational education and has been
widely cited by them. The importance of enterprise-school collaboration is
well reflected in several countries’ vocational education reform programs,
such as Germany’s Dual System of Vocational Training, Canada’s Coopera-
tive Education method, and Korea’s Contractual System (Chen, 2014).
Vocational education focused on industry has become popular
throughout the world. Due to the influence of subject-based general educa-
tion, most vocational colleges and schools used to place an emphasis on the
uniqueness and completeness of each specialty when developing school cur-
ricula, ignoring the connections between different specialties. This resulted
in excessive segmentation of student learning and a lack of alignment be-
tween school specialty planning and industrial demands for human resources.
However, China’s ongoing industrial transformation and upgrading creates a
demand for multi-skilled people rather than those with a narrow focus on a
particular technique. The schools that are best able to adapt their vocational
education to industrial development and have a flexible and open framework
for specialty planning will attract additional resources to sustain their contin-
ued development. Similarly, businesses that engage in timely industry-school
collaboration have an advantage in hiring high-quality skilled individuals.
The increased efficiency and technological innovation brought about by the
latter will enable businesses to maximize their revenues. Thus, by integrating
specialist construction and regional industry development, vocational colleg-
es and schools may better serve the community by providing skilled human
resources and assisting in the optimization of the local industrial structure.
The purpose of vocational education is to equip students with applica-
tion-oriented knowledge, skills, and talents. The primary focus of vocational
education is on practical training, with the goal of supplying the workforce
with highly trained and well-rounded workers. Enterprise-school cooperation
maximizes the strengths of both firms and schools in developing instructional
strategies and materials, thereby facilitating the relationship between industry
and vocational education. Longgang No.2 Vocational and Technical School
of Shenzhen have extensive experience collaborating with businesses. The
school arranges off-campus training for students at local ICT companies, and
the companies also send professional training teams to the school to develop
appropriate training plans based on current industry demand. The Coordinat-
ed Development of Secondary Vocational School Specialty Clusters and In-
dustry Clusters: A Case Study of Longgang No.2 Vocational and Technical
School of Shenzhen in this issue examines the mechanism for coordinating
the construction of specialty clusters and the development of industry clus-
I
SIEF, Vol.11, No.2, 2022 1529
ters, drawing on the school’s experience in configuring specialty clusters to
meet the needs of industrial chains, with the goal of providing useful guide-
lines for school-enterprise collaboration in specialty planning (Wang &
Huang, 2022).
References
Chen, N. Y., Zhou, C. Q., & Wu, Z. P. (2014). The connotations of industry-school part-
nership and its realization paths. Chinese University Science and Technology,
2014(8):40-42. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16209/j.cnki.cust.2014.08.027
Foster, P. (1992). Vocational education and training. Prospects, 22(2):149-155.
Wang, S., & Huang, T. (2022). The coordinated development of secondary vocational
school specialty clusters and industry clusters: Citing Longgang No.2 Vocational
and Technical School of Shenzhen as a case study. Science Insights Education
Frontiers, 11(2):1567-1577. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15354/sief.22.or056
Correspondence to:
Xiaoqiao Cheng
Nanjing Normal University
Nanjing 210000, Jiangsu
China
E-mail: xqcheng2008@vip.163.com
Or
Longjun Zhou
Jiangsu Second Normal University
Nanjing 211200, Jiangsu
China
E-mail: 294437034@qq.com
Conflict of Interests: None.
Doi: 10.15354/sief.22.co012