| This study investigates the development of vocational education in Shanghai and Shenzhen in the Chinese Mainland. The researcher's intention is to reveal the needs of vocational education in these two rapidly changing cities. The first aim of this study is to address a long-standing debate of the meaning of relevance education wherein the functions and efficacy of general education or vocational education are dichotomized. The second aim of this study is to analyze the nature and working of decentralized educational policies in two specific developmental contexts.; In the past, scholars tended to view vocational education as the equivalence of relevance education. With reference to the experience of vocational education in Shanghai and Shenzhen, it is argued that the meaning of relevance education should be constituted by the perceptions of various stakeholders. For the two cities in question, relevance education refers to a more complex concept. It should include solid foundation of general education, awareness of the nature of a specific labor market, ability to work independently, ability to deal with change, the possession of creativity and vision, communicative skills, and the ability and interest of life long learning. For the mode of delivery, it should also include pre-service formal education and on-the-job non-formal education. Recently, educational policies promulgated in the Chinese Mainland advocated that vocational education should be a major concern in education development, and that vocational education should be retained on the upper secondary level of schooling. Since it is difficult to satisfy the varying needs in the nation's labor market, and taking into consideration the desire for upward mobility of vocational school graduates, future educational policies should be made flexible enough to accommodate diversity in societal needs and personal aspirations.; Moreover, the principle of decentralization has been adopted in educational policies to facilitate the reform of vocational education. With reference to the continuum of deconcentration---delegation---devolution, decentralization in the educational systems of Shenzhen and Shanghai is situated somewhere in between deconcentration and delegation. The intention of the central government to distribute authority to local governments is to delegate certain responsibilities so that the latter can implement central policies more effectively. The limits of local governments' autonomy depend on how they manipulate central policies to their own advantage. Since the meaning of relevance is constructed by the perceptions of stakeholders, it is important that a social partnership among stakeholders be allowed to emerge. This would afford a more equitable distribution of opportunities and responsibilities, and the possible emergence of a genuinely constituted education that would benefit the stakeholders. |
