Jiping Wang  Xiao Feng  Josef Rützel

The research in Chinese vocational training and practice has developed rapidly over the past 30 years. It has significantly differentiated in terms of its subjects, research approaches and methods as well as in relation to the organization, networking and international cooperation. Nevertheless, there are countless questions to be answered. Most recent are the questions belonging to: (1) professionalization of vocational school teachers, (2) the development of systems, in particular on issues of vocational training at intermediate level and higher vocational training (3) the training curricula for vocational schools, (4) the content and the location of general didactics and specialist didactics, (5) the development of teaching and learning arrangements,(6) the quality in the vocational education and training system and the vocational training of teachers, and (7) their evaluation as well as (8) the analysis of potential pupils, professional qualifications and vocational education and training plus processes in career choices (Zheng & Rützel, 2014). These challenges are also mirrored in research projects and characterizing vocational pedagogy research in China, which is primarily systematized by its objects (Zheng & Rützel, 2014).

In research projects the Chinese professional pedagogues orienting themselves on the one hand on traditional Chinese educational theories, on the other hand “foreign reference models in the vocational education and training and Know-how are notably demanded by the Chinese education sector” (Klorer, 2016). In addition to German vocational education and training also Anglo-American and Australian approaches are playing an important role (Zheng & Rützel, 2014) as well as the Indian model of the Technical College in the tertiary sector, which is implemented in pilot projects (Yang, 2014).

The research landscape has emerged in Germany in professional pedagogy since the 1960s is highly complex too. Paradigmatic positions are also in conflict with one another, alike the empirical research based on a natural scientific understanding or the scientific accompaniment known as „model testing research“. This applies equally to the research strategies, methods and standards aligned with very different theoretical approaches, paradigms and scientific positions (Rützel, 2015). In particular, the contributions of the AGBFN conference in Vienna show important facets of the research achieved (Severing, Weiss, 2012). The research questions raised for China are, however, also much more divided and more concrete in the field of German vocational research. Therefore, the research exchange and the research cooperation promise high potential for both partners.

In order to understand and classify the background of the research cooperation, a brief outline of vocational training cooperation, the participants in vocational education and training and the importance of the “Chinese - German Institute for Vocational Education and Training” at the Tongji University in Shanghai are given.

Cooperation in Vocational Training between China and Germany

The development and differentiation of vocational education and training was accompanied by the economic, industrial and social development of China. Its beginning was parallel to the establishment of industrial schools at the end of the 19th century. The need for skilled workers resulting from the industrial boom also led to the creation of the first research institutes and scientific associations of vocational training. The “Chinese Association for Vocational Education”, founded in 1917 by 40 renowned scientists, initiated systematic forms of vocational training. On the one hand, theoretical foundations, guiding principles and guiding principles for vocational education and training were worked out and, on the other hand, empirical research was carried out on specialist classifications, apprenticeships, practical teaching and teacher training (Rützel, Ziehm, 2003).

With the political reform course at the end of the 1970s, vocational training in China was also greatly expanded. Through the cautious international opening-up, the interest in economic, political and technical cooperation between China and Germany grew. In this context, Chinese-German cooperation in the field of vocational training is particularly noteworthy, since dual education is noticed as a success model in the PR China (Wagner, 2003). The Federal Government also emphasized the special importance of vocational education and training within the scope of development cooperation and supported it through funding for vocational training projects (Köhne, 1999). Already at the beginning of the 1980s, the first financial, technical and consulting projects were funded by the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1994, there were more than 30 projects supported by Germany at national, regional and communal levels. Own projects with China also supported the federal states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse and Lower Saxony. Other federal states focused on the promotion of professional and managerial staff, Chinese students in Germany and on selective scientific cooperation (Köhne, 1999). The Hans-Seidel Foundation is also an important player in the promotion of vocational training. An initial assessment was held in 1994 at the symposium „10 Years of Chinese-German Cooperation in Vocational Education and Training“ in Hangzhou (Central Institute for Vocational Education, 1994).

The cooperation in vocational education and training was strengthened and extended by the vocational training initiative agreed between the heads of government Peng Li and Helmut Kohl in 1993. As a result of this initiative, the number of projects rose to more than 50 by the end of the 1990s. When the weight at the beginning of the promotion of vocational training was attributable to skills training schemes, projects concerning the system and multiplier level were systemized from the beginning of the 1990s (Köhne, 1999).

New Stakeholders in the Chinese Vocational Training Research

The quantitative and qualitative expansion of vocational education and training not only increased the need for research, but was also part of individual projects. These include, in particular, the founding of the Central Institute for Vocational Education and Training (ZIBB) in Beijing, the Occupational Skill and Testing Authority (OSTA), and the Regionalinstitute für Berufsbildung(RIBB) in Shanghai and Liaoning. In addition to services and documentation, these institutions are responsible for applied research. A descriptive character and an insufficient theoretical and empirical foundation (Rützel, Ziehm, 2003) is characteristic for this research.

The exchange of experience and science was particularly fostered by the German project managers, who formed a work group in the People’s Republic of China, including symposia in cooperation with the ZIBB, the RIBB´s in Shanghai and Liaoning as well as the coordination and information center In Beijing. Chinese and German experts from vocational training institutions, ministries, universities and projects took part in these several-day symposia. The last symposium took place in 2007 at the Centenary of the Tongji University in Shanghai ( Institute for Vocational Training & German Society for Technical Cooperation, 2007). From these symposia important impulses came for vocational training, for the exchange of scientists and for comparative vocational education and training.

The Chinese-German Vocational Training Institute at Tongji University, Shanghai

The projects on the“political-strategic level” were supplemented by projects on the control and multiplier level. Especially the project “Training of Vocational Education Teachers at the Tongji University of Shanghai” (ABT-S) is very important for vocational education and training. The project aims to provide advice and support for the planning, organization and implementation of new courses for vocational trainers and the newly established Institute for Vocational Education and Training (IBB), since 2013 named as the Chinese-German Vocational Training Institute (CDIBB). In addition, the strengthening of vocational training was an explicit part of the project. For this purpose, a program was set up for twelve Chinese university lecturers from the IBB for doctorate in Germany. To enable these graduations, the IBB concluded cooperation agreements with several universities in Germany since the year 2000 onwards, including the University of Bremen, the Technische Universität Darmstadt and the University of Kassel. Within the scope of this program, a total of seven lecturers were promoted at the University of Bremen, four at the University of Darmstadt and two at the University of Kassel. Nearly all of them are now professors or vice-professors. The first dissertation at the Technical University of Darmstadt on the subject “difficulty in electrical engineering in Chinese teacher training” began in 2001 and was completed in 2004 (Chen, 2004). In addition to the training of teachers, the numerous doctoral theses also included questions on the changes in work, curriculum development, new media, learning and quality in vocational education and training.

Chinese-German Workshop on Vocational Education and Training

Through these collaborations the research and scholarly exchange initiated by the symposia, the scientific consultations in the projects, the long-term and short-term specialists from the university sector as well as through country initiatives were significantly intensified. In the context of cooperation between the IBB of the Tongji University and the Institute for General Pedagogy and Vocational Education at the Technische Universität of Darmstadt, Professor Rützel commissioned the Society for Technical Cooperation in 2005, now the Society for International Cooperation. The question was, how the IBB could use and further develop the existing research potential in Germany, as well as strengthen its research profile. The background of these discussions was, that the cooperation in vocational education would end up in the foreseeable future due to the strong economic and political strength of China. The aim was to secure the results achieved and established cooperations on a sustained basis and to redirect them. University cooperations were a suitable platform for this. The idea emerged to establish a Chinese-German workshop on vocational education and training, which was founded on the basis of the cooperation between the Institute for Vocational Education and Training of the Tongji University and the Institute for General Pedagogy and Vocational Education at the Technical University of Darmstadt. The workshops should be designed and organized by the respective management of the IBB and Josef Rützel. The core of scientific exchange should be a mutual interest in current research and new developments in the respective country. It was planned to carry out the workshop regularly, alternating in Shanghai and at a German university location.

The 1st Chinese-German Workshop on Vocational Education and Training was held at Tongji University in October 2010 with a very broadly held title „Vocational Education in Germany and the People’s Republic of China“. The aim was to promote, intensify and expand the dialogue and cooperation. The idea of an exchange should be made possible on an equal footing, and the German research landscape and IBB’s research profile should be represented as an example. Therefore, experts with different research topics and research approaches were invited.

At the three-day based workshop, eight IBB professional researchers, a professional pedagogue from the Eastern-Chinese University and five scientists from the Federal Republic held lectures. They came from the Universities of Darmstadt, Duisburg-Essen, Giessen, Paderborn and the Pädagogische Hochschule Schwäbisch-Gmünd. The task of the speakers was to present their research areas, the research subjects, their research approach and the preferred research methods. The aim was to discuss their research work with the participants. Through this concept, insights into the respective research landscape were made possible. The conclusion of the workshop was a moderated discussion on joint research fields and approaches, thereby intensifying existing research cooperations and creating new ones.

The beginning of a series of workshops started at the University of Paderborn in 2011. At the same time, the planned change of venues between Shanghai and Germany was also realized with this workshop. The format of the first workshop was largely retained, but after the first and rather general exchange, the topics were significantly narrowed:“Quality, standards and individual competence development in vocational training and professionalization in teacher training ”. With this still relatively open title the goal was pursued after a more concrete title of the workshop topics and the above mentioned challenges in the Chinese system were taken into account. There were professional inputs from seven Chinese professional pedagogues from Tongji University and eight German scientists, supplemented by three poster presentations. The majority of the german inputs came from the University of Paderborn. Researchers from the universities in Darmstadt, Gießen, Magdeburg, Osnabrück and the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences were also involved. Compared to the first workshop, the cooperation network on the German side was thus moderately expanded. Other lectures were given by a scientist from the National University of Laos, a member of the Asian Network for Vocational Education, as well as by researchers from the University of Graz who are cooperating with the economic pedagogues in Paderborn.

After a break, at the third workshop the teacher training in both countries with the slogan “professionalization, competence, quality” was placed at the center of the exchange in March 2015 at Tongji University. Thus a further thematic focus took place, through which the exchange could be deepened. The intensification and quality improvement of the exchange also contributed to the high continuity of the participants as well as on the Chinese and on the German side. At the same time, new aspects were introduced into the discussion, both from the Chinese side as well as from the German side. At the CDIBB, third-party research had taken a much higher place and scientists were involved, who had promoted scholarship programs at the University of Cologne and the European University of Flensburg. On the German side the network was extended by the University of Göttingen. In addition, three professors from the Technische Universität Darmstadt participated in order to elaborate the strategic partnership of both universities established in March 2013.

The main theme at the 4th Chinese-German Workshop on Vocational Education and Training, which took place from 22 to 24 February 2016 at the Technical University of Darmstadt, was system development. A total of 23 lectures were held in three parallel panels, each with different focuses: Vocational Training System. Challenges and modernizations (Panel 1), higher education and curriculum development (Panel 2) and professional pedagogic professionalism under a changing framework (Panel 3). In all panels, both German and Chinese experts and young scientists came to the fore. Young academics of the CDIBB and German universities were invited more specifically than in the previous workshops in order to enable new personal cooperation in addition to the expansion of the research areas. For a first impression, selected presentations of the presentations are available online (Institut für Allgemeine Pädagogik und Berufspädagogik, 2016). In addition to the University of Darmstadt and the Tongji University, the lecturers also attended the University of Duisburg-Essen, the Justus Liebig University of Giessen, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University of Hanover, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, the University of Osnabrück, the University of Paderborn, the Pädagogische Hochschule Schwäbisch Gmünd and the University of Vechta. Almost 50 people from the scientific community took part. It was to observe, that knowledge about the other country, which also required knowledge about implicit patterns of thought and action, as well as competence in internationally comparative vocational research on both sides had grown considerably. As a result, the communication processes in terms of intensity and quality increased appreciably. Following this, a research forum in the form of a barcamp was organized within the framework of the workshop. The aim was to develop joint research projects. For this purpose, already completed and ongoing research projects have been presented in order to examine whether these can be expanded by cooperation. The debates focused on potential projects on the topics of occupation and career choices, vocational training policy and teacher training. A research project is currently being developed to compare teacher training policy in Germany and China.

Perspectives

In the People’s Republic of China, a diverse, differentiated and dynamic career research landscape has emerged over the past 30 years. The prognosis that vocational education and training will continue to develop strongly is not dared dependend on the importance of vocational training given in China. The strategic goal is to transform China into an innovative country by 2020, which becomes a think-tank and exporter of cutting-edge technology and know-how (Zheng & Rützel, 2014). The dubious notion that China is a“developing country” in the matter of vocational education and training should be definitely overtaken. Due to the numerous Chinese professors in the field of vocational training, who have completed their doctorate at German universities, such a characterization would also discredit German vocational training research.

China is already and will be even stronger a significant international cooperation partner in the future. Due to the still existing interest in the dual system in China, German cooperation partners have a special starting point, which can lead to innovative cooperation projects. The Chinese-German Workshops on Vocational Education and Training are an example of this and are a very important mosaic stone in the Sino-German exchange on questions of vocational training. Our experience shows, that an ongoing exchange on the same level and manageable networks will create new developments and continuity in the personal contacts are promising approaches. The 5th Chinese-German Workshop on Vocational Education and Training in Shanghai has already been arranged.

Concerning this Publication

This publication contains contributions from the third as well as the fourth research workshop, which were held in Shanghai in 2015 and Darmstadt in February 2016. It is a selection of the themes presented at the workshops. In german and english language, Chinese and German well-established scientists are coming to the fore. Taking into account the current state of research on professionalization as well as competencies of vocational school teachers, the present articles also cover currently discussed developments. These are, in particular, questions on the emerging challenges of new target groups as well as questions about the changing requirements of vocational training.

The first chapter deals with professionalization, theoretical and specific aspects of professionalization, such as teacher-training, are discussed. In addition, professionalization requirements are discussed in the design of study courses as well as the effects of industry 4.0 on teacher training.

In the second chapter, in addition to the didactic competences and key factors for e-learning, new design concepts for the vocational school teacher training course are presented, in particular, on the design of the practical phases.

The professionalism of vocational school teachers is influenced by different social, economic and disciplinary developments. These developments are associated with the professionalization and the competences of teachers, but are usually not or only indirectly mentioned and have a significant influence on them. Therefore, in Chapter 3 challenges,research results are presented on different developments. The range is from the economic effects of vocational training, the analysis of possible new target groups in vocational school teacher training until the influence of the curriculum system up to international funding classes or the vocational training pisa. These aspects are difficult to arrange systematically, but they illuminate blind spots and can prevent narrows in the discussion.

This publication contains contrasting comparisons between the results of research and developments both in China as well as in the German-speaking area and a variety of different perspectives from authors. This fact makes this publication unique throughout the world.

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