Research On The Choice Of Policy Instruments In The Development Of Modern Apprenticeship In England

Apprenticeship is the start point of vocational education.Since the 1990 s,as a new exploration to deepen school-enterprise cooperation,innovate the training model of technical talents and improve the quality of skilled personnel training,modern apprenticeship has become the most attractive topic in the field of vocational education and training.Many countries are trying to improve the level of skilled talents training and promote the innovative development of economic society and vocational education and training systems by developing and continuously reforming the modern apprenticeship system.The development of modern apprenticeship system is realized through policy making and implementation,especially policy implementation is directly related to the effective realization of the expected goals.As a bridge to transform policy content into policy practice,policy implementation must be realized through policy instruments.Only through policy instruments can public policy be operable.Therefore,the choice of policy instruments has become the core issue in the process of policy formulation and implementation.As the country that first proposed and implemented the modern apprenticeship system,from 1993 to now,after nearly 30 years of reform and development,the England modern apprenticeship system has made great achievements,but there are also many problems that deviate from the policy plan.In this process,what policy instruments did the England government choose to promote the reform and development of modern apprenticeship,why did it choose these policy instruments,What are the characteristics of the choice of policy instruments,and what experience and lessons have been accumulated.The analysis of these problems is of great value for deepening the understanding of the choice of policy instruments and improving the process and effectiveness of policy implementation.Focusing on these issues,this study takes the long-term reform and development process from 1993 to2020 as the research time range.Based on the England modern apprenticeship reform policy text,and based on the critical juncture and strategic focus in the reform and development process,the reform process is divided into three stages : “ scale expansion period ”(1993 –2004),“ quality improvement period ”(2005 – 2014)and “ quality improvement and scale expansion period”(2015 – 2020).Taking the literature analysis as the main method,combined with the classification of policy instruments by Elmore and Howlett,this paper constructs a classification framework of policy instruments to identify the policy instruments used in the process of England modern apprenticeship reform.Based on the Political System Theory and Policy Instruments Theory,an analytical framework was constructed to analyze the policy instrument selection in different development periods.The comprehensive model of Hollett and Ramish was used to analyze the reasons for the choice of policy instruments.At the same time,we examine the application of policy instruments through the four core subjects of employers,apprentices(learners),government departments and training providers,and analyze the policy effectiveness and its impact.On this basis,through the comparative analysis of the evolution of policy instruments at different stages of reform and development in diachronic form and the application of different types of policy instruments in synchronic form in different stages of reform and development,the characteristics of their policy instruments are summarized.The study found:Firstly,In the development of modern apprenticeship,the England government has chosen three types of compulsory,mixed and voluntary,including authoritative orders,incentive induction,system-change,capacity-building,information and advice,and market and voluntary policy instruments to promote the development of apprenticeship.From the perspective of the vertical development process,with the transformation of the development ideals of the government and the gradual strengthening of national capacity,compulsory policy instruments have become the dominant force to promote the development of apprenticeship.Its purpose is to reduce the uncertainty of policy implementation and improve the efficiency of policy implementation by inhibiting the space for autonomous action of target groups.the Mixed policy instruments have become a consensus choice because of their’ comprehensiveness ’.Its purpose is to optimize the structure of policy instruments and improve their effectiveness.The Voluntary instruments have become a useful supplement to government forces in the process of transformation of governance paradigm and apprenticeship development model.Its purpose is to strengthen the training market competition and force the improvement of training quality.From the perspective of the horizontal field of action,The mandates instruments are focused on regulating the operation process of apprenticeship and restricting the behavior of target groups,clarifying the rights and obligations of relevant actors and safeguarding their rights and interests.The system-change instruments is dedicated to promoting the reform of apprenticeship development model and the optimization of governance system,that is,to change the existing power relations and patterns through power transfer,so as to achieve the matching of institutional structure and policy objectives.The Incentive induction instruments focus on increasing the willingness of target groups to participate.That is,to change the attitude of the target group through material incentives and spiritual praise as exchange conditions and to encourage them to take actions consistent with policy arrangements.The capacity-building instruments focus on improving the participation ability of target groups,that is,improving their understanding and action ability of policies by providing education training and consulting guidance services.Secondly,the development practice of modern apprenticeship in the England shows that the choice of policy instruments is neither the result of arbitrary affairs and rational calculations,nor is it determined by a single factor.It is also affected by the policy environment,policy problem,policy objectives and target groups,as well as the function and application situation of policy instruments.These factors can be summed up as two core variables of the National Capacity and Policy Subsystem in the Howlett and Ramesh’s Comprehensive Model,and the interaction between them shapes the choice of policy instruments in different situations.Specific to the development practice of modern apprenticeship in England,during the period of scale expansion,under the guidance of the ideals of "big government,small society" and driven by the expansion of apprentices,the government strongly intervenes in the development of apprenticeship,and the development of modern apprenticeship shifted from "market-led" to "government-led" "model.Due to strong national capacity and low complexity of policy subsystems,during this period,the reform of modern apprenticeship system is dominated by compulsory instruments.During the quality improvement period,political ideas shifted to “big society,small government”.Under the guidance of the goal of improving the quality of apprenticeship training,the England government turned to “service-oriented government” and giving the dominance of apprenticeship to employers,The development model shifted from “government-led” to“employer-led”.Due to the weak national capacity and the low complexity of the policy subsystem,during this period,the Mix instruments become the dominant force.During the quality improvement and scale expansion period,the political philosophy of Theresa May’s government shifted from “a government that will get out of the way” to an “active government” to strengthen the intervention and control of the apprenticeship.Due to the strong national capacity and the low complexity of the policy subsystem,during this period,the reform of modern apprenticeship system is dominated by compulsory instruments.Thirdly,from the perspective of policy effectiveness,the reform and development of modern apprenticeship in England is generally mixed.Despite the apprenticeship training system of ’ vertical connection and horizontal communication ’ has been constructed,the enthusiasm of employers ’ participation has been significantly improved,the number of registered apprentices has increased significantly,the scale of apprentices has expanded significantly,and the quality of apprenticeship training has also improved significantly,there are also some problems,such as as a relatively small proportion of young apprentices,a small number of participants in advanced apprenticeships,and the unending prohibition of "fake apprenticeships".There is still a gap between the reform and development goals and the needs of economic society development.Fourth,the use of policy instruments in practice is often embedded,that is,different types of policy instruments often need to be premised on the use of a certain type of policy instrument.At the same time,the synchronous use and synergy between different types of policy instruments are crucial to ensure policy effectiveness.On the whole,the reform and development of modern apprenticeship in England provides us with some useful experiences and lessons: First of all,from the choice and use of policy instruments : the choice of policy instruments in highlighting the dominant instruments while taking into account the combination of various types of policy instruments;the selection of policy instruments for policy problems with the same goal is adjusted adaptively with the change of policy environment;the choice of policy instruments varies with the change of the role and characteristics of the target group.Secondly,from the perspective of the relationship between policy instruments and policy objectives : direct provision and incentive induction instruments have a significant effect on the expansion of apprenticeships;authority orders and capacity-building instruments play a positive role in improving the quality of apprenticeship training;the mixed instruments and market instruments play a positive role in the synchronous development of scale and quality.At the same time,through the development practice of modern apprenticeship in England,especially from the interaction between policy instruments and policy environment system,we can also draw some lessons: Firstly,we should pay attention to the mutual adaptation and promotion between the apprenticeship system and the external environment system,and maintain the dynamic balance between them;Secondly,Fully respect the interest demands of the target group and realize the mutual embedding of the national will and the interest of the target group;Thirdly,balance the tension between scale and quality,ensure moderate scale and adhere to the bottom line of quality.