Over the last 40 years, China has emerged as the “world's factory” by leveraging its demographic dividends. However, this labour-intensive growth model has proven unsustainable due to its aging population and intense global competition.Footnote 1 To escape the “middle-income trap,” the Chinese government launched a series of industrial upgrades in both the manufacturing and service sectors. Despite ambitious agendas for the forthcoming decade, the persistent shortage of skilled workers continues to hinder these efforts.
With more than 23 million vocational school students in 2020,Footnote 2 such shortages of skilled labour come as a surprise. This surprise is heightened by the substantial efforts and resources that the Chinese government has committed to improving vocational education in recent years. Measures include the introduction of free upper-secondary vocational education, the expansion of higher vocational colleges by one million students from 2019 to 2021 and the establishment of applied technology universities.Footnote 3 The vocational education system has witnessed an unprecedented trajectory, with enrolments in upper-secondary vocational schools escalating from 4.56 million in 2004 to 7.11 million in 2009.Footnote 4
Despite such substantial investment in vocational education, the question arises: why does it still fail to address the skilled labour shortage? Institutional scholars contend that a successful skill formation regime necessitates a high level of synchronization between the educational system and economic–industrial development.Footnote 5 The experience of the Asian Four Tigers indicates that the “developmental state” must play a more proactive role, implementing centralized control over the vocational education system to align it with the evolving demands of industrial upgrades.Footnote 6 Thus, existing academic discourse often critiques the misalignment between vocational education and industrial needs in China, underlining the imperative for the state to assume greater responsibility in enhancing vocational education.Footnote 7Suggestions encompass the introduction of collective industrial governance,Footnote 8 augmentation of financial investment, reform of the certification system and the bolstering of ties with industry.Footnote 9 Yet, while these studies have shed light on the institutional barriers to effective skill formation, they fail to satisfactorily elucidate why the issue remains despite significant national investment and reforms. The educational system's structure and the importance of student centrality in skill formation are often insufficiently examined, with a disproportionate focus on reform deficiencies. Moreover, these studies frequently overlook the nuanced micro-dynamics of school-based training, a gap which this research seeks to fill.
Utilizing rich ethnographic data and comprehensive interviews conducted in two upper-secondary vocational schools, we strive to make three salient contributions to the ongoing dialogue on ineffective skill formation in vocational education. First, we dissect the myriad challenges Chinese vocational schools face, spanning enrolment, instruction, extracurricular activities, craftsmanship campaigns and school-to-work transitions. We underscore the struggle of vocational institutions to reconcile social equality with skill development, especially against increasing student heterogeneity. Second, we spotlight the often-neglected voices of vocational schoolteachers and students within traditional skill formation discourses. We assert that an effective skill formation strategy necessitates a nuanced appreciation of student barriers and employment anxieties, thereby moving beyond a strictly top-down model. Third, we critique the national strategy of refining vocational education through elitism, as exemplified by skill competitions and craftsmanship discourses. We contend that this approach risks an undue concentration of resources on a select elite, potentially undermining the broader goal of raising the skill levels of the majority of vocational students.
Addressing Skilled Labour Shortages through Vocational Education Enhancement
Over the past two decades, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) has been tracking the supply and demand for labour in more than 80 major cities in China. The ministry's quarterly reports revealed that the position-to-seeker ratio of skilled labour reached a historical peak of 2.0 in early 2020.Footnote 10 Senior skilled workers, technicians and senior technicians were in particularly high demand. Furthermore, the Ministry of Education (MOE) estimates that China will confront a skilled worker deficit of 30 million by 2025, representing a 48 per cent shortfall in fields such as materials, CNC machine tools, energy-saving and new energy vehicles.Footnote 11
Vocational education has emerged as a crucial tool for the Chinese government to mitigate the dearth of skilled labour. In an effort to amplify the standing of vocational education, the most recent revision of the Vocational Education Law in 2022 posits that “vocational education holds equal importance to general education.”Footnote 12 The initiative aimed at transforming the entrenched societal prejudices against vocational education and its students across diverse sectors. An overhaul of the National Vocational Certificate System (NVCS) has also occurred, with numerous outdated skill qualifications being removed since 2013. As part of certification reform, in 2019 the MOE introduced the “1+X Vocational Skill Certificate System Reform.” Under this system, vocational students in the MOE's affiliate schools graduate with an educational degree from the MOE and a skill certificate from an industry organization as proof of both their educational attainment and skill proficiency.
A nationwide campaign targeting craftsmanship in vocational institutions was also initiated as part of skill education. The craftsmanship narrative, initially formulated by Premier Li Keqiang 李克强 in 2016, was designed to enhance the quality of goods produced by Chinese brands. Nevertheless, a significant reconceptualization occurred in 2020 when President Xi Jinping 习近平 redefined the craftsmanship discourse, casting it as an individual's enduring commitment to achieving exceptional mastery and absolute perfection in skilled work. This campaign consolidates the enhancement of personal skills with the overarching ambition of national prosperity, as demonstrated by slogans such as “craftsmen forge a powerful country” (gongjiang qiangguo 工匠强国).Footnote 13
The Ineffectiveness of China's Vocational Education and Training System
After completing the High School Entrance Examination (HSEE), junior middle-school graduates in China are generally offered the choice between academic and vocational tracks. A more detailed explanation of this dual-track system is provided in Figure 1. Depending on the governing authority, there are two types of vocational schools. One variety of vocational school, affiliated with the MOE, includes upper-secondary vocational schools, vocational schools and higher vocational colleges. The other variety includes technical schools and technician colleges under MOHRSS's supervision.
China's Formal Education System
Source: The authors drew the figure based on Zhang Hao's (Reference Zhang2021) research.
Despite being pivotal to China's industrial progression and holding substantial expectations from the government, vocational education persistently manifests as a vulnerable segment within the education sector for its substandard and outdated skill training.Footnote 14 Research conducted by Yi and colleagues demonstrated that nearly 90 per cent of students perceived their acquired general or vocational skills as negligible.Footnote 15 Cooke highlighted several deficiencies within the Chinese Vocational Education and Training (VET) system: subpar training equipment, poor teaching quality, diminished appeal compared to academic institutions and limited job opportunities for graduates.Footnote 16 Vocational school students are also vulnerable to exploitation as cheap sources of factory labour during their internships.Footnote 17 Thus, the transformative impact of vocational schools remains highly questionable.
Existing scholarship explaining the ineffective vocational education in China mainly focuses on institutional discussions, offering three types of explanations: resource scarcity, skills mismatch and imbalanced skill training.Footnote 18 A policy review by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2008 stated that vocational education generally requires higher financial investment for instructional equipment and competent instructors compared to general/academic education.Footnote 19 However, public expenditure on upper-secondary vocational schools in China was less than that on the same level of academic schools in 2020, partially substantiating the resource deprivation argument.Footnote 20 A prevalent piece of evidence supporting the skill mismatch thesis is employers’ lack of recognition for NVCS skill certificates, which further diminishes the attractiveness of vocational education.Footnote 21 Moreover, drawing on the collective skill formation thesis,Footnote 22 Zhang concludes that the absence of civil society governance at the industry level hampers China's attempts to reform apprenticeships, since students cannot acquire transferable general skills without the collective governance of the business community.Footnote 23
While the above research rightly underscores the necessity of financial input and institutional collaboration with the business sector to enhance the quality of vocational education, these studies often overlook the student perspective and the complexities inherent in micro-level skill formation at the school level. Although a handful of ethnographic studies have examined the school-based training, they predominantly focus on the role of vocational education in class reproduction rather than skill formation. For instance, Zhou's rigorous ethnographic study observes that the concern for discipline takes precedence over employability in classroom instruction; rural vocational students receive scant training at school and reproduce their parental status.Footnote 24 Similarly, Woronov exposed a ritualized, devoid-of-substance vocational education system which conditions students for enduring repetitive tasks in the low-level service sector.Footnote 25 These empirical studies tend to attribute “ineffective skill training” in vocational schools to intentional design. The class reproduction perspective, while insightful, may overlook the intricate dynamics within the vocational education system, thus underestimating the possibility that ineffective training could also emerge as an unintended consequence of systemic issues rather than being solely a strategic outcome.
Indeed, the vocational education system is far from a monolithic entity; rather, it is characterized by profound tensions and conflicts.Footnote 26 Historically, vocational education has been caught in a delicate balance between the pursuit of educational equality and the logic of marketization, a duality that originated with the inception of vocational education in Europe. Here, the intent was to provide education to working-class children, alleviating poverty while simultaneously addressing the labour requirements of industrial production.Footnote 27 China is not an exception to this trend. It has broadened the reach of vocational education to afford educational opportunities for students who are not part of the academic track, due to either financial limitations or capability constraints.Footnote 28 Chen Ziji 陈子季, the then-director of the Department of Vocational Education and Adult Education, announced in 2020 that rural students constituted over 70 per cent of vocational school enrolment in China.Footnote 29 Meanwhile, the Chinese government also anticipates vocational education to cultivate skilled workers to drive its industrial advancement plan. This dual mandate becomes especially challenging as upper-secondary vocational education begins to move towards massification.Footnote 30
The onset of massification brings its own set of intricacies, potentially compromising the quality of skill training and introducing additional strain to pedagogical practices. Singh and Shawa underscored this issue in their study, which spotlighted how burgeoning enrolment numbers in South Africa's technical colleges impeded the provision of high-quality Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). This problem largely stems from the subpar “calibre” of enrolled students, who seem to be more interested in subsidies than in skill acquisition.Footnote 31 In regions where upper-secondary education participation is ubiquitous, such as the Nordic countries and Iceland, vocational educators also encounter a broad array of student profiles, and the strategy they employ to manage this escalating diversity is individualization.Footnote 32 According to Kuznetsova and Régnier, individualization in pedagogy implies that educators adapt their teaching methods to cater to individual student needs while continuously monitoring and assisting their learning progress as necessary.Footnote 33
However, in countries with a strong governmental presence, such as China, the goals of skill development are often dictated at a national level by the central government.Footnote 34 The conception of “skills” in this top-down, hierarchical model may diverge from that interpreted by educational institutions and educators, which are often geared towards the smooth operation and accident-free execution of course curricula. This perspective may also deviate from students’ perception of “skills,” which they often correlate with better employability. Consequently, a top-down approach to enhancing skill acquisition, emphasizing national economic expansion and international competitiveness, may not align with the immediate interests of schools and students. This contrast is particularly stark when compared to the student-centric individualization approach. Such divergence can engender significant tensions, particularly in scenarios where the school's capacity to proactively design alternative strategies – strategies that reflect the actual conditions and needs of their students – is limited.
In a nutshell, despite the extensive contributions of scholarly literature on skill development within vocational education, two critical issues still lack clarity. First, the mechanisms by which vocational institutions systematically restructure their organizational structures and pedagogical methodologies to cater to state-imposed skill development objectives remain underexplored. This includes an examination of potential tensions and conflicts that may arise during the process of such institutional adjustments. Second, the impact of recent, extensive reforms instituted by the Chinese government on students’ skill acquisition – particularly the students’ direct experiences and challenges – is still largely unexplored in academic discourse.
Data and Methods
The data analysed in this study come from a four-year PhD project investigating skill formation and class reproduction in vocational education (Zhongguo zhiye jiaoyu jineng xingcheng yu jieceng zaishengchan 中国职业教育技能形成与阶层再生产). The project lasted from October 2017 to December 2020 and involved 104 student interviews from six vocational schools across five cities. Most data and information presented below were collected in autumn 2020 from two upper-secondary vocational schools in a third-tier city (“City A”) of Guangdong province. The data was further supplemented by interviews with students from the same majors at other vocational schools.
City A was chosen as the primary research site for two reasons. First, Guangdong, being at the vanguard of China's economic reform, has been grappling with skilled labour shortages since 2004 and consequently has a heightened awareness of this problem. This makes it an apt location to scrutinize why vocational education's expansion has not remedied skilled labour shortages. Secondly, compared to metropolises and underprivileged areas, City A manifests an average level of educational input and skill training effectiveness, thereby potentially augmenting the generalizability of our findings. The focal point of our research is upper-secondary vocational education as it forms the bedrock of the entire vocational education system and confronts more profound challenges in recruitment and resource accessibility.
Out of the multitude of vocational programmes, nursing and auto mechanics were selected as they are widely acknowledged as technically demanding programmes and occupations. Both fields are grappling with impending skilled labour shortages in China. The document Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of Modern Vocational Education highlights nursing as a profession distressed by labour shortages, a predicament exacerbated by the rapidly aging population.Footnote 35 In 2019, China had only 30.83 nurses and midwives for every 10,000 people, a stark contrast to Germany (141.9) or Korea (81.78).Footnote 36 Besides, China's automotive aftermarket is anticipated to hit 1.7 trillion yuan by 2025,Footnote 37 with electric vehicles being earmarked as one of the ten high-technology industries in the Made in China 2025 initiative. As the automotive market burgeons, the demand for skilled workers in the repair industry will invariably escalate.
Between September 2020 and December 2020, the first author conducted four months of participant observation in two upper-secondary vocational schools as a volunteer teacher. The Bridge School is esteemed for its high-ranking auto repair programme within Guangdong province, while the River School is famous for its healthcare training programmes. The weekly association sessions facilitated the first author's observation of classroom instruction, placement sessions, students’ preparation for skill competitions, certificate tests and participation in professional associations (zhuanye shetuan 专业社团) and internship hospitals. Moreover, 36 semi-structured interviews with 31 students and five teachers were conducted, triangulated by casual discussions and interactions with dozens of other students and teachers in both schools. Most student informants were aged 16–18, hailing from local rural villages or adjacent counties. Interviews encompassed topics such as school and programme selection, professional learning, internship experiences and career prospects.
An Era of Massification: Escalating Tensions in Skill Training
From 2002 to 2008, China's upper-secondary vocational education sector underwent a rapid expansion, sparked by two policy declarations from the State Council in 2002 and 2005.Footnote 38 This growth aimed to redress the skilled labour deficit confronting China, setting a target of enrolling eight million vocational students by 2010. Specific attention was given to creating training opportunities for students hailing from rural and disadvantaged backgrounds. Consequently, China has entered an era of massification in upper-secondary vocational education, with nearly 90 per cent of junior school graduates securing admission to post-compulsory education. While the central government's policy ostensibly presents no conflict between the provision of high-quality skills and mass vocational training for academically weaker students, the practical execution reveals considerable challenges in harmonizing these objectives.
School recruitment: a balancing act between quantity and quality
Within China's state-funded skill development system, the financial sustenance of vocational schools is heavily tethered to a per-student state subsidy. According to two interviewed vocational schoolteachers, “the state subsidy totals 7,000 yuan per student, and inadequate enrolments can jeopardize teacher remuneration.” Concurrently, student recruitment remains a formidable challenge for vocational schools in China, given the schools’ less favourable reputation, restricted career prospects and the declining school-age population. The urgency to ensure survival has become a pressing concern for many upper-secondary vocational schools, thus compelling them to prioritize enrolment numbers over the academic calibre of candidates.
Our investigation revealed a worrying situation: the extremely low admission standards in the two schools. For instance, the mean HSEE scores for automotive maintenance and nursing majors were approximately 200 and 350 points, respectively. This is in stark contrast to the threshold score of 800 points demanded by the foremost local academic high school, which is two to three times higher. Furthermore, we encountered a few individuals who, despite having not completed junior high school education, re-enrolled in vocational schools after two or three years in the workforce. While vocational schools retain the autonomy to admit students lacking a junior high school diploma, such an easing of admission criteria yields substantial heterogeneity within the student body in terms of motivations and willingness to pursue skill learning.
From our observations, students interviewed can be segregated into three distinct categories: proactive learners, passive learners and reluctant learners. Proactive learners are marked by their fervent desire to attain practical skills that promise to boost their future career prospects. These students exhibit high adherence to both school administration and teacher's directives, but they represent a small fraction of the student population – approximately 2 or 3 out of 50. By contrast, passive learners are the students who, owing to their suboptimal HSEE scores, are left with scant options other than to enrol in vocational schools. This segment constitutes a sizeable fraction of the interviewees, reflecting the government's policy of maintaining “roughly equal ratios of vocational education to general education,” a policy that funnels half of junior high school graduates into the vocational track. Lastly, reluctant learners comprise those students who, propelled primarily by parental expectations or pressures, choose vocational schools despite their lacklustre academic performance or lack of motivation for further studies. The prevalence of such students has seen an upturn with the relaxing of admission standards.
The increasing heterogeneity within student communities inherently imposes amplified requirements on educators and school management. However, our observations reveal a lack of proportional growth in the number of teachers, despite the expansion of the student body. This issue is clearly exemplified in the cases of Bridge School and River School. In 2021, the Bridge School reported a pupil–teacher ratio of 39.38:1, which surged to 43.11:1 the following year, implying an average responsibility of 43 students per teacher. A parallel trend was detected at the River School, where the ratio escalated from 16.66:1 in 2021 to 21.34:1 in 2022. These trends suggest that both vocational schools have expanded their student bodies without a commensurate increase in their teaching staff. Viewed in a broader context, this predicament is not unique to the Bridge and River Schools. As of 2019, upper-secondary vocational schools in 13 provinces and cities across China had yet to meet the pupil–teacher ratio of 20:1, as stipulated by the MOE in its 2010 Standards for the Establishment of Upper-Secondary Vocational Schools.Footnote 39
Classroom instruction: unravelling the discipline–skills paradox
In the face of systemic pressures due to rapid expansion, maintaining a sense of normalcy in these educational settings has become increasingly challenging. Our visits to these campuses revealed a disciplined exterior, characterized by vigilant security guards, attentive class monitors and walls adorned with slogans promoting craftsmanship and skill learning. However, contrasting this disciplined exterior was evidence of disorder, such as bathrooms littered with cigarette butts and alcohol bottles. This discrepancy between the visible discipline and underlying unrest serves as a stark reminder of the systemic pressures these schools grapple with in managing a diverse student body.
This sentiment was echoed by school administrators and teachers, who shared their constant vigilance towards potential conflicts within the student body. As one teacher candidly put it:
Sometimes I feel that the school is a juvenile correctional centre where skill learning comes second; the top priority is safety and discipline. The headmaster comforts us [teachers] that we are doing charity work as the more students attend vocational schools, the fewer gadabouts wander the streets. We might be helping to reduce crime rates.Footnote 40
Classroom instruction, serving as the primary conduit for skill transfer, also replicates the militaristic school management approach. This disciplinary strategy is primarily employed to maintain classroom decorum rather than to facilitate substantive and efficient teaching and learning, which affirms the aforementioned teacher's statement. For instance, teachers may merely warn students caught sleeping in class or engaging in mobile games and hesitate to enforce punitive measures to avoid confrontation. An illustrative case involves a student who absconded from class for three days to play games in the dormitory. The headteacher (banzhuren 班主任) expressed concern about the student's behaviour, but also revealed a reluctance to impose strict measures: “I was so afraid that he would jump out the window if I forced him to come to class. It is better to have other students convince him.”Footnote 41 On another occasion during a practical training course, final-year students were preparing for an impending skill qualification exam. While eight students surrounded the teacher to review cylinder measurement procedures, two others were detached, playing games in the corner and later requested the teacher repeat the instruction. These examples underscore the prevalence of vacuous and inefficacious pedagogical practices, which paradoxically persist beneath the façade of stringent disciplinary measures within the school setting.
In theory, the process of skill acquisition is often conceptualized as a dynamic interaction that mandates mutual engagement from educators and learners. The learners’ preparedness, encompassing their foundational academic knowledge as well as their intrinsic motivation to learn, is an integral element in effective skill formation.Footnote 42 However, our classroom observations revealed that two thirds of the students struggled with the rudimentary skill of division, a basic component of the skill test and content typically taught in primary schools. The teacher, with an air of resignation, commented:
You see, students’ understanding and mathematical abilities are too poor to digest the knowledge and skills I teach. I am not a maths teacher in junior middle school. They are supposed to have this prerequisite knowledge before coming here.Footnote 43
Education can be envisioned as a chain of interconnected links; when students lack the requisite foundational knowledge, it necessitates additional time and effort from teachers for remedial instruction to deliver the planned curriculum. This issue not only burdens the educators but also impedes students’ motivation to pursue their professional careers. Xiao Long, a final-year auto repair student who merely scored a 200 mark on the HSEE, exhibited an aversion to mathematics and physics. When asked about his proficiency in school-taught skills, he responded:
Perhaps 40 out of 100. It was so hard for me to understand the content. Last semester, I spent three months learning how electric circuits worked. I really tried but failed … I might try out as an apprentice in the auto repair shop to see if I can handle the job. If they kick me out, I might find something else.Footnote 44
Xiao Long's experience echoes the sentiments of many mediocre students, who also expressed their dissatisfaction with skill acquisition and low self-efficacy. Yet, becoming a skilled worker requires a relatively lengthy period of skill advancement. Auto repair graduates should commence as apprentices at an auto repair store and move up the ranks from junior to intermediate, senior and ultimately technical director. Self-efficacy, based on effective skill acquisition, forming the cornerstone of continual devotion, is key to skill progression and a tool for weathering the difficulties typically faced by new entrants in skilled professions. Pan Long, despite being an exemplary student, also expressed low self-efficacy regarding his potential to advance to the role of a senior technician, a position that demands not only years of rigorous work but also the challenging task of publishing academic papers, an endeavour particularly daunting for vocational students who were not trained in academic thinking. As Pan Long candidly stated, “I could never do it myself!”
In examining student motivation, it was discerned that a substantial proportion of learners either displayed a more passive, ambivalent stance or exhibited explicit resistance. The passive learners often had a limited comprehension of their selected majors and related career trajectories. These students frequently navigated a transitional phase and might opt to discontinue their educational journey if they found the curriculum unappealing. This was evidenced in an auto mechanic class, which initially enrolled 50 students but only retained 23 by the first semester of the third academic year.
In addition to passive learners, there is a smaller but growing minority of reluctant learners who are enrolled in vocational programmes due to familial coercion. One such learner was a student named Ming, colloquially referred to as “Sleeper” owing to his propensity for dozing off during lessons. Ming had previously discontinued his junior high school education and engaged in factory work for several years before his parents incentivized his re-enrolment with a 20,000-yuan investment. Regardless of his cognizance of the significance of education, he grappled with keeping pace with the lessons, primarily due to his deficient academic foundation.Footnote 45 For reluctant learners such as Ming, in-class somnolence served a dual function. It represented not only a silent appeal for assistance from the pedagogue but also a means of asserting their presence among peers, indicating a bold defiance of authority.
Such disruptive behaviours have a significant impact on the pedagogical climate within the classroom. Xiaofeng, another student, narrated a noticeable shift in the class's learning environment, further confirming the effects of such behavioural trends.
In the first year, our efforts were tireless. However, as time progressed, we've noticed a perceptible decline in our educational pursuit. Evenings that were once dedicated to homework have now become our playtime … This transition is not exclusive to my experience; it's a class-wide phenomenon … A significant number of students in our school habitually bypass lessons without incurring any penalties or reprimands. This lax attitude has gradually become institutionalized within our class culture. Our class has a particularly high rate of absenteeism.Footnote 46
Professional associations: nurturing talents and intensifying inequality
Despite the challenges apparent in classroom instruction, it would be oversimplification to perceive vocational schools merely as juvenile correctional centres devoid of skill advancement. Rather, since President Xi's rise to power, the central government has reiterated its commitment to bolstering skill development in vocational education across all levels. Amid these policy transformations, vocational schools, grappling with an increasingly diverse student population and a relative dearth of teaching resources, confront substantial hurdles in the practical execution and appropriate adaptation to these government-mandated “skill upgrades.”
Our subsequent investigations unveiled that professional associations serve as a valuable adjunct to classroom instruction, offsetting its deficiencies in skill training. They fulfil a crucial role, facilitating schools to align with national skill standards and secure government financial assistance. Unlike traditional classroom settings, these professional associations span across grades and centre around specific specialties or competitive events. Under the aegis of a single subject-specialist teacher, the associations cater to a range of functions, including the dissemination of specialized skills, the identification of potential high-achievers and the creation of a community of committed learners.
These active learners, through their participation in professional associations, gain opportunities for additional training and preparation for skill competitions, which vary from local to international levels. For instance, in 2020, the Bridge School handpicked 60 students out of a pool of 3,000 to compete in provincial skill competitions, resulting in three second-place and 13 third-place winners.
Contrasting the classroom instruction's emphasis on stability and discipline, professional associations prioritize skill enhancement and talent identification. Each association operates with its unique set of rules and traditions. One such instance is the auto repair association, which has endured over the years, with knowledge being passed down from older to younger student generations. This association not only prepares its members for competitions but also grooms them as prospective automobile mechanics. A notable practice is the requirement for members to complete 40 push-ups at the commencement of each training session. As explained by the student leader, this practice underscores the need for physical endurance in addition to technical expertise in the field of automobile repair. The association implements a system of elimination based on student attendance and performance, further reinforcing its focus on discipline, commitment and competitive excellence.
Nevertheless, there are two latent issues associated with these professional associations. Firstly, they select only a fraction of students, extending the necessary privileges and support exclusively to these few. For example, in a cohort of 100 automotive repair students, only 30 could receive intensive job-specific skill training. Both schools prioritize members of these professional associations for certification examination, such as the newly established “1+X Vocational Skill Certificate System Reform.” Despite its intention to optimize scarce resources, this resource allocation method undeniably exacerbates the existing disparity between active learners and their average counterparts. Secondly, the training content provided by the professional associations is primarily oriented towards the demands of skill competitions rather than the needs of the labour market. This implies that, unless students achieve accolades in highly prestigious skill competitions, most employers are unlikely to increase their wages or improve their conditions solely based on students’ award-winning performances.
Craftsmanship: a privilege for the elite minority?
As previously articulated, the craftsmanship campaign (gongjiang jingshen 工匠精神), initiated in 2016, has pervasively influenced all vocational institutions as a top-down skill enhancement endeavour. Central to this movement are the principles of professionalism and patriotism. As Bowles and Gintis articulate, educational institutions not only equip students with cognitive skills but also socialize them into becoming workers who embody the cultural traits demanded by the labour market.Footnote 47 In the context of school-based training in China, it is the state which outlines the requisite core values.Footnote 48 The education of craftsmanship is seamlessly integrated into school curricula and promulgated throughout the campus via mottos such as “with glorious labour and precious skills, we create great marvels,” and “practice more, think more.”
Skill competitions function as critical conduits for promoting the ethos of craftsmanship. The pioneering National Skills Competition, organized by the MOHRSS in 2020, encompassed 86 competitive events. Both schools demonstrated considerable enthusiasm towards their students’ participating in these competitions, as success reverberates beyond institutional prestige to the acquisition of supplemental resources. Moreover, these accomplishments confer economic benefits upon the supervising instructors, further cementing the value of these competitions within the vocational education landscape.
Both schools’ students dedicated an entire semester to preparing for provincial contests, and the bulk of participants were members of professional associations. These students, granted the privilege to forgo regular classes, were able to utilize the practical training base for competition preparation as needed.
This bifurcation of practices elucidates the emergence of dual growth trajectories among students. The standard trajectory involves students simply progressing through a three-year programme with minimal emphasis on skill advancement. The alternative, pursued by a select group of elite students, involves engagement with professional associations and participation in skill competitions, fostering a more intensive skill acquisition process. This dichotomy within the vocational education system potentially reflects systemic disparities in opportunities for skill development.
The elitism inherent in the craftsmanship campaign and skills competitions has led to feelings of exclusion among many vocational students. In mid-September 2020, we participated in the Skill Carnival (jineng jie 技能节)Footnote 49 hosted by Bridge School. Attending the opening ceremony, we were impressed by how the school linked vocational training to middle-class professionalism and patriotism. The opening video at the ceremony featured a group of professionals in white lab coats passionately discussing advances in technology, embodying the values of professionalism, dedication and progress. This scene was followed by a glimpse of the World Skills Competition, where students from vocational schools proudly displayed the Chinese flag and were awarded with gold medals. The video conveyed the state's propaganda that “sharpening skills brings glory to the nation” and reinforced the moral doctrine that “craftsmen forge a powerful country.”
We asked a student informant sitting nearby how he understood craftsmanship. “Craftsmanship?” After a moment of contemplation, he responded by pointing out that “the signs and banners of craftsmanship are everywhere on campus, as you can see. I think that it refers to dedication and skill advancement.” While his answer was not surprising, he further mentioned that those who had triumphed in skill competitions embodied craftsmanship. However, when we probed how he planned to integrate the concept of craftsmanship into his career plan, he fell silent. Other average vocational students exhibited a similar sense of disconnection. We realized that the banners and slogans championing craftsmanship seemed to be abstract ideals for most students. This prevailing sense of alienation stems primarily from the considerable rift between the positive narratives disseminated by the state and the feelings of uncertainty and powerlessness experienced by young students transitioning into the workforce.
Lost in transition: shifting pressures to employment
The school-to-work transition is always a crucial leap and a “culture shock” for young students. It also serves as a metric to evaluate the quality of vocational schools, which are designed to equip students with practical skills and recognized certifications, thereby facilitating a smoother transition into employment. However, our findings show that even students who excel in coursework and skill competitions may struggle to thrive in the workforce without a robust system that aligns their skills with suitable job opportunities.
Take for example, Yucheng, a final-year student in the automotive repair programme. Despite winning a Provincial Second Prize for sheet metal skills and passing the intermediate automotive skill test, he grappled with uncertainty about his future career path due to a dearth of relevant firms. Instead of offering a structured internship programme, the Bridge School hosted on-campus job fairs to connect students with potential employers. Unfortunately, these job fairs provided little to no vetting of companies or positions, leaving students to navigate the complex job market largely unaided.
In lieu of practical guidance, the headmaster repeatedly underlined to students that success only comes after “eating bitterness” (chiku 吃苦) and demonstrating persistence (jianchi 坚持), invoking his personal history of endeavour. However, this message was met with scepticism and derision from students, who mockingly accused him of “giving fake promises.” The students’ mockery is not without reason. Open positions most closely related to the automotive repair major were for car washers, roles that required minimal skill. Several logistics companies, notably Vipshop, a leading e-commerce company, and Cainiao, one of China's top five logistics firms, recruited young vocational students regardless of their areas of specialization. This reality suggested that the skills students acquired at school may not be recognized or further developed in the workplace.
Adding to the controversy was a Shenzhen-based manufacturer that produced circuit boards. All positions listed in its job advertisements required a bachelor's degree or above, yet the Bridge School does not offer undergraduate programmes. Students congregated in front of the job board, grumbling, “if you look down on us, why bother coming here to recruit workers?” The harsh reality was that only a small proportion of auto repair graduates remained in the field. According to a Bridge School alumni poll, merely 35 per cent of 237 alumni remained employed in the auto maintenance industry within five years after graduation. Nearly half of the recent graduates found employment in manufacturing plants.Footnote 50
Nursing students at the River School were not very optimistic about employment either, even though their internship training was more standardized. They were assigned one-year internships in local public hospitals, rotating through different departments for one to two months at a time. The interviewees were generally satisfied with the content of their internship training, gaining new skills and insights into hospital working conditions. However, due to credential inflation, local public hospitals no longer offered permanent employment to upper-secondary vocational graduates. Most nursing students, according to a nursing instructor, found employment in privately owned hospitals or beauty centres, usually without permanent contracts and with salaries ranging from 3,000 to 4,000 yuan per month.Footnote 51 This scenario mirrors the employment situation of the majority of upper-secondary vocational students. As per the River School's 2020 yearbook, 1,568 of its 1,776 graduates entered the workforce directly without pursuing tertiary education.
However, even among those excellent enough to be enrolled in tertiary programmes, there was much confusion and hesitation over career decisions. Wang, a highly competent student enrolled in a college nursing programme, expressed a lack of drive to work as a nurse:
Although a nurse's job is stable, the income is terribly low [compared to its long working hours]. The working environment is so stressful as medical accidents may occur at any time. Nurses are also required to continue learning and pass exams endlessly. One of my junior middle school classmates, now a salesman in a club, earns 7,000 to 8,000 yuan every month, whereas even if I graduate from the college and become a nurse in a public hospital, the income is only 3,000 to 4,000 yuan per month. Being a nurse may be helpful for families, but it cannot fulfil individual financial needs.Footnote 52
In Wang's assessment, the journey to becoming a nurse – characterized by years of schooling, obtaining a nursing qualification, long working hours, night shifts and potential for medical incidents – does not correlate with the remuneration, despite the relatively higher social status of being a nurse. This sentiment seems typical within the industry in China. A survey conducted in 2020 involving 2,695 registered nurses found widespread dissatisfaction with the nursing profession, largely due to low pay and lengthy working hours. Over 59 per cent of the surveyed nurses reported earning less than 6,000 yuan per month.Footnote 53 Thus, despite the relatively high entry standards into the nursing programme, quality placements and recognized skill certificates, nursing students still harbour numerous reservations about entering the industry, not to mention other vocational programmes like auto repair. This situation elucidates the stark reality that confronts a vast majority of vocational school students in their early career trajectory, serving as the source of their all-encompassing anxiety and profound sense of disorientation.
Conclusion and Discussion
This study seeks to unravel the paradox of skilled labour shortages in China amid the significant expansion of vocational education and massive governmental investments and reforms. Although scholarship on ineffective vocational education offers compelling insights, academic discourse has largely addressed this conundrum from resource scarcity or deficient industry integration perspectives. The unique contribution of this study lies in its micro-level dissection of school-based training – a facet largely overlooked in current discussions.
Firstly, this research carefully outlines the multifaceted challenges that Chinese vocational schools currently grapple with, spanning enrolment, classroom instruction, extracurricular activities, the craftsmanship campaign and the transition to employment. Nationally, upper-secondary vocational schools are tasked with a delicate balance of fostering social equality and promoting skill development. However, our analysis indicates that in the context of the rapid expansion of upper-secondary education, these schools find it challenging to harmonize these objectives effectively. In order to retain an adequate student body, schools and teachers often find themselves compromising on the calibre of their applicants and the standards of classroom instruction. This situation engenders a shift of daily pedagogy and school administration towards preserving discipline and stability, thereby assigning skill development and talent selection – ideally a school-wide mission – to extracurricular professional associations, pursued by only a select few.
Secondly, this study amplifies the frequently marginalized viewpoints of vocational schoolteachers and students within the broader discourse on skill formation in China – a narrative traditionally dominated by the logic of optimization and instrumentalization.Footnote 54 Our findings suggest that skill acquisition is a multifaceted process, shaped by the dynamic interaction between educators and learners. The students’ academic preparedness and motivations to learn are equally pertinent to micro skill formation as are the resources of schools and the capabilities of the instructors. Thus, addressing the issue of ineffective skill formation requires more than top-down initiatives; it necessitates a bottom-up approach that acknowledges the obstacles students face in acquiring skills, as well as their apprehensions and uncertainties in pursuing employment.
Lastly, this article challenges the current national strategy of improving the quality of vocational education through the elitism embedded in craftsmanship campaigns and skills competitions. These initiatives may inadvertently suggest that craftsmanship is reserved for a select few since skill competitions often remain inaccessible for most vocational students, either objectively or psychologically. We contend that a significant disconnect exists between this elitist approach to skill acquisition and the actual conditions faced by vocational students. The superficial promotion of the craftsmanship spirit and the exclusivity of skill competitions have failed to genuinely address the challenges associated with skill acquisition, job search and the commitment to pursue technical professions among vocational school students.
While our study offers important insights, it is worth noting its limitations. Our research is primarily focused on public upper-secondary vocational schools, and findings may not fully represent other levels of vocational education such as higher vocational colleges. Despite these limitations, our study provides critical insights into the challenges faced by these schools, offering valuable perspectives for addressing similar issues across the vocational education spectrum in China.
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge funding support from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) (Early Career Scheme – 27604821) and the University of Hong Kong (Seed Fund for Basic Research – 109000256), both granted to Xu. We thank the anonymous reviewers for their careful reading of our manuscript and their many insightful comments and suggestions. We would also like to express our appreciation to Pun Ngai for her engaged and supportive discourse surrounding this article.
Competing interests
None.
Xinmiao SONG is a research assistant professor at the Lingnan University Creative and Cultural Innovation Research Institute, Lingnan University. Her scholarly pursuits primarily delve into vocational education and youth employment in contemporary China.
Duoduo XU is an assistant professor of Sociology at the University of Hong Kong. Her research interests centre on social stratification and inequality and lie at the intersection of urban sociology, sociology of education and sociology of work.
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