Understanding Higher Vocational Education in China: Vocationalism vs Confucianism

CITATION

Xiong, J. (2011) Understanding Higher Vocational Education in China: Vocationalism vs Confucianism, Front. Educ. China, 6(4), 495–520

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ABSTRACT
The development of higher vocational education in China embodies
a global trend of vocationalism that values skills and skilled workers, which is
opposite, in some ways, to the Confucian tradition in Chinese education that
values theoretical knowledge related to good governance. As the cultural trend
supporting the development of higher vocational education, vocationalism is
implicated in certain challenges including high tuition fees, limited upward
mobility, and neglect of the humanities in education. Humanities for moral
education, and mechanisms for upward mobility on equal terms for all, which are
fundamental elements of Confucianism, may help resolve these challenges. This
paper embodies the dialectic of a global trend and local culture in educational
reform within the context of globalization.


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