Symbols Of Modernity Secondary Vocational And Technical Schools In Shanghai Construction And Development

The Commission of Education in Shanghai made a decision about constructing the modernized secondary vocational and technical model schools in 1998. At the end of 2000, 10 such schools were established. This was the first in our country. Given lack of experience to learn and appropriate theory to guide, these schools have been undergoing exploration, practice, construction and development. So far they have not only made some achievements, but also faced many problems. Therefore the construction and development of these schools is selected as the theme of my dissertation. Through analyzing the information from my interview with the schoolmasters, my consultation with the governors and scholars responsible for vocational and technical education, my sending out the questionnaires of teachers and students and my searching for literature, this dissertation initially clarifies these problems and puts forward some suggestions.This dissertation identifies the focus concerned by various circles as five research problems. Firstly, the reasons why Shanghai Municipal government constructed the modernized secondary vocational and technical model schools are discussed. They are the challenges vocational and technical education will face in knowledge-based economy era, the non-adaptability and backwardness of conventional vocational and technical education and the new requirements of development of vocational and technical education in Shanghai. Secondly, the modernization and model of vocational and technical education are explored generally. Modernization amounts to the process and goal that the secondary vocational and technical education tends towards advance, science and criterion, and model means the attributes that represent, demonstrate, mark and display the nature and characteristic of the modernized secondary vocational and technical model schools in Shanghai. Then the connotation of the modernized secondary vocational and technicalmodel schools in Shanghai is expounded specially at four different levels------physical,institutional, practical and ideal level, which is followed by the explanation of its dynamic characters. Thirdly, the paper analyzes the 5 mechanisms how these schools were launched and how they worked. They are the competition mechanism among schools to identify those that reached certain standards, the investment one with diverse channels, the marketization working one, the flexible and open one that runs a school and the one that areas and industries propel the development of vocational and technical education under the macroscopic supervision of governments at all levels. Fourthly, the main tasks of construction and development that these schools have faced are found and analyzed at four levels. Finally, the effects that resulted from the construction and development of these schools are discussed. They are as follows: enlarging the influence of the vocational and technical education in Shanghai and setting up a good example; increasing the number of students and the size of schools; changing people's prejudice against the secondary vocational and technical education; taking the leading role in constructing the secondary vocational schools and in cooperation between home and abroad; emphasizing the schools' subjectivity and lessening the government's authority. Meanwhile, there are some issues such as how to correctly define and publicize these schools, efficiency and equity of vocational and technical education, the basic requirements of the modernized secondary vocational and technical school.