The Essential Attribute Of Vocational Education: History, Facts And Values

The essence of vocational education not only inherent contains a logical starting point of the vocational education pedagogy, but also runs through it as a main line. Many educators and thinkers in the history home or abroad have shown great interests and enthusiasm on this topic. For our country, the exploration to the essence of vocational education has experienced "exploratory stage", "practicing stage", "deepening stage" and "contend stage" since modern times. Many educational practitioners,theorists and thinkers, home and abroad, have explored this issue and proposed their own views about the essential attribute of vocational education from different social backgrounds and subject perspectives. In a conclusion, the main views to the essence of vocational education are "productive theory", "revenue-producing theory", "occupational theory", "popularity theory", "social theory", "industrial theory", "technology skill theory", "mediator theory", "adaptation theory", "diversity theory", "practical application theory" and so on. All these theories provide us better understanding of the vocational education attribute, as well as a theoretical support and direction guidance to our work.However, as the research on vocational education starts late, many scholars inevitably make some mistakes on methodology when exploring the essence attribute of vocational education. Such as the confusion of basic philosophy concept, the confusion of unified vocational education discussing area and the lack of research paradigm. Mistakes lead to misunderstandings. This article believes that every thing is universal and particular, or universal and individually reunification. Therefore, every thing has a essence, and even has its own essential attribute and general attributes. When we study the essence of "vocational education", we are referring to the universal nature of this matter, and vocational education at all times and areas, will inevitably have the common attribute. Vocational education is the essence of "receipt skills" essential attribute is "materialistic", "human person" and "intermediary", the three essential attributes complement each other and they together constitute a vocational education that distinguishes it from other types of nature education attributes, and thus derive a vocational education, "diversity" and "popular", "occupation", "production", "social" and "Practical Applications", "skills", "adaptability" , "industry", "general career-oriented", "targeted", and other general attributes.