Pre-vocational Education in Germany and China

Pre-vocational Education in Germany and China

Jun Li Pre-vocational Education in Germany and China A Comparison of Curricula and Its Implications

Jun Li Tongji University, Shanghai, People s Republic of China Printed with the kind support of DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst). Additional material can be found at: www.springer-vs.de/buch/978-3-531-19439-4/ Pre-vocational-Education-in-Germany-and-China.html ISBN 978-3-531-19439-4 DOI 10.1007/978-3-531-19440-0 ISBN 978-3-531-19440-0 (ebook) The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. Library of Congress Control Number: 2012953567 Springer VS VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 2013 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Cover design: KünkelLopka GmbH, Heidelberg Printed on acid-free paper Springer VS is a brand of Springer DE. Springer DE is part of Springer Science+Business Media. www.springer-vs.de

Foreword For Caixia, with love It was not easy to finish a PhD degree in a foreign country. Speaking a different language, living in a strange cultural and social environment, and being so far away from family was difficult. Nevertheless, I feel very lucky that I had the opportunity to have done this. My experiences in Germany from 2008 2011 had a profound impact on my life. To me, these experiences were not just about reading German literature and attending seminars in German universities or about opening doors to my future career. Instead, this time offered me a real chance to extend my personal experiences and vision, to get to know myself better, and to understand society from a different perspective. This kind of opportunity is very helpful for someone in the field of comparative education research because without it my knowledge ran the danger of being far more superficial than it is now. All my experiences would not have been possible if Prof. Matthias Pilz had not invited me to do my dissertation in Germany. I would like to give him my most sincere thanks. It was his guidance and supports, in both the professional domain as well as a general sense that has helped me accomplish this task. During my stay at the University of Education Freiburg and the University of Cologne, several professors and colleagues have helped me through daily conversation, academic seminars and discussions, and so much more. I would especially like to thank Prof. Detlef Buschfeld, Prof. Thomas Diehl, Urs Frey, Jana Krüger, Katrin Rasch, Muthuveeran Ramasamy, Susanne Berger, Jochen van der Burgt, Junmin Li, Rebekka Klages, Blanka von Zitzewitz, and Ulrike Severin. Without their kindness, knowledge, and professional support, I could not have finished my dissertation. v

vi Foreword Good friends make life in a foreign country much easier and enjoyable. In this sense I would like to give my gratitude to the following friends: Olga Lositsky, Halinka Danielewicz, Fabian Sölter, Johannes Bausenhart, Kaiyu Chiu, Yunhong Yang, Yinghuang Wang, Svenja Laackmann, Tobias Fliegen, Balasundaram Krisanthan, Ming Hu and Daisuke Asai. Last but not least, I would like to give my mom and my wife Caixia my particular thanks. Caixia is my greatest blessing, and without her tolerance, understanding, and support I never could have come so far.

Contents 1 Introduction.................................................... 1 1.1 The Choice of Research Subject............................... 1 1.1.1 Choice of Pre-vocational Education as the Subject of Study... 1 1.1.2 Choice of Germany and China as the Counterparts of Comparison....................................... 2 1.2 Current Status of the Research................................ 5 1.3 Methodology............................................... 6 1.3.1 Definition of Pre-vocational Education in This Study...... 6 1.3.2 Choice of Central Research Question................... 7 1.3.3 Choice of the Comparative Method..................... 8 1.3.4 Choice of Compared Body............................. 10 2 The Institutional and Historical Context........................... 13 2.1 Description and Comparison of Education System in Germany and China................................................. 14 2.1.1 Education System Germany............................ 14 2.1.2 Education System in China............................ 19 2.1.3 Comparison of the Institutional Settings................. 25 2.2 Historical Development of Pre-vocational Education in Germany and China...................................... 27 2.2.1 Historical Development of Pre-vocational Education in Germany......................................... 27 2.2.2 Historical Development of Pre-vocational Education in China............................................ 32 2.2.3 Brief Comparison of the Developments of Development Tracks of Pre-vocational Curricula in Germany and China... 38 3 Curriculum Analysis: Theory, Criteria and Findings................ 39 3.1 Pre-vocational Education in the International Context........... 39 3.2 Selection and Development of the Curriculum Analysis Theory... 45 vii

viii Contents 3.2.1 Relationship between Vocational Education and General Education........................................... 45 3.2.2 Career Development Theory........................... 46 3.2.3 Curriculum Theories................................. 47 3.3 Description of Reetz s Curriculum Development Theory.......... 49 3.3.1 Basic Description of the Reetz Theory................... 49 3.3.2 The Relationship Among the Three Principles............ 51 3.4 Development of the Analysis Criteria.......................... 54 3.4.1 Adjustment of the Reetz s Theory....................... 54 3.4.2 The Structure and Method of Analysis................... 54 3.4.3 Selection of the Analysed Materials..................... 55 3.4.4 Explanation Concerning the Coding Process............. 57 3.4.5 Discipline Principle................................... 58 3.4.6 The Overlapping Problem between Personality Principle and Situation Principle and Its Resolution............... 68 3.4.7 Personality Principle.................................. 69 3.4.8 Situation Principle.................................... 73 3.5 Double Blind Check of the Analysis Criteria.................... 80 3.5.1 Processes and Results of the Double-blind-check......... 80 3.5.2 Interview with the Coders and the Findings.............. 81 3.5.3 Analysis of the Findings and Adjustment................ 82 3.6 Results of Curriculum Analysis............................... 83 3.6.1 BW WAG Curriculum................................ 83 3.6.2 NRW Wirtschaft Curriculum.......................... 85 3.6.3 Shanghai LTC Curriculum............................. 85 3.6.4 Chinese LTC Curriculum.............................. 86 3.7 Comparison and Interpretation of the Analysis Results........... 87 3.7.1 Basic Comparisons................................... 87 3.7.2 Interpretation of the Analysis Results................... 91 4 Teacher Interview............................................... 95 4.1 Development of Interview Questions and Preparation of Interviews............................................... 95 4.1.1 Critical Methodological Issues in Study of Curriculum Implementation...................................... 95 4.1.2 The Perspective This Research Takes.................... 97 4.1.3 Choice of Teacher Interview........................... 100 4.1.4 Structure of Teacher Interview......................... 102 4.1.5 Development of Interview Guideline.................... 106 4.1.6 Interview Preparation and Process...................... 116

Contents ix 4.2 Findings of the Teacher Interview............................ 121 4.2.1 Findings in Germany................................ 121 4.2.2 Findings in China................................... 132 4.3 Summary of the Interview Results and Comparison............. 144 4.3.1 Summary of the Interview Results..................... 144 4.3.2 Comparison of the Curriculum Implementation in Germany and China............................... 145 5 Analysis of the Overall Results and Conclusions................... 147 5.1 Comparison Between the Results of Curriculum Analysis and Teacher Interview...................................... 147 5.1.1 Germany........................................... 147 5.1.2 China.............................................. 148 5.2 Comparison Between the Two Countries...................... 149 5.2.1 Guiding Principles of Curricula....................... 149 5.2.2 Curriculum Implementation.......................... 152 5.3 Hidden Patterns of Commonality and Its Meanings............. 156 5.3.1 Inconsistencies in Both Contexts...................... 156 5.3.2 Analysis of the Inconsistencies........................ 157 5.3.3 Knowledge as a Way of Educational Stratification........ 158 5.3.4 The Approaches to Knowledge Taken by the Middle Schools in the Two Countries......................... 159 5.3.5 A Social Realism Approach to Knowledge and Implication for Curriculum Development........... 161 5.4 Implications for Praxis...................................... 162 5.4.1 The Integration of the German Concept Vocation (Beruf) in the Chinese Curriculum................... 163 5.4.2 Knowledge Teaching................................. 164 5.4.3 Teaching of Economics/Business as Selective Course in China........................................... 164 5.5 Perspectives............................................... 165 References........................................................ 167

List of Figures Fig. 3.1 Relationship among the Reetz s principles... 53 Fig. 3.2 Solution to overlapping of personality and situation principle... 69 Fig. 3.3 Percentage of Reetz principles BW WAG curriculum... 84 Fig. 3.4 Distribution of Reetz principles for BW WAG curriculum... 84 Fig. 3.5 Percentage of Reetz principles NRW Wirtschaft curriculum... 85 Fig. 3.6 Distribution of Reetz principles for NRW Wirtschaft curriculum... 86 Fig. 3.7 Percentage of Reetz principles Shanghai LTC curriculum... 86 Fig. 3.8 Distribution of Reetz principles for Shanghai LTC curriculum... 87 Fig. 3.9 Percentage of Reetz principles China LTC curriculum... 88 Fig. 3.10 Distribution of Reetz principles for China LTC curriculum... 88 Fig. 3.11 Occurance of individual items per curriculum (meaning of the criteria can be seen in Tables 3.7, 3.11, 3.16, 3.17, 3.18)... 89 Fig. 4.1 Continuum of perspectives on curriculum implementation and standpoint of this research... 99 xi

List of Tables Table 3.1 Description of Reetz s curriculum principles... 52 Table 3.2 Basic list of contents of Principles of economics (cf. Mankiw 2001)... 59 Table 3.3 Basic list of contents of Economics Principles and policy (cf. Baumol and Blinder 1991)... 60 Table 3.4 Basic list of contents of Economics of Lipsey and Chrystal (cf. Lipsey and Chrystal 2007)... 60 Table 3.5 Basic list of contents of Economics of Stiglitz and Walsh (cf. Stiglitz and Walsh 2006)... 61 Table 3.6 Comparison of elements of economics from different academic works... 62 Table 3.7 Criteria for economics... 64 Table 3.8 Basic list of contents of business of Appleby... 65 Table 3.9 Basic list of contents of business of Wöhe... 65 Table 3.10 Basic list of contents of business of Sheng... 65 Table 3.11 Criteria for business... 65 Table 3.12 Basic list of contents of Encyclopaedia of twentiethcentury technology (cf. Hempstead and Worthington 2005)... 66 Table 3.13 Basic list of contents of Lueger Lexikon der Technik (cf. Lueger et al. 1972)... 66 Table 3.14 Basic list of contents of Das große Buch der Technik (cf. Scherl 1962)... 66 Table 3.15 Comparison of elements of technology/technique from different Encyclopaedia... 67 Table 3.16 Criteria for technology... 68 Table 3.17 Criteria for personality principle... 72 Table 3.18 Criteria for situation principle... 79 Table 3.19 Number of codes for each Reetz principles for BW WAG curriculum... 84 Table 3.20 Number of codes for each Reetz principles for NRW Wirtschaft curriculum... 85 Table 3.21 Number of codes for each Reetz principles for Shanghai LTC curriculum... 85 xiii

xiv List of Tables Table 3.22 Number of codes for each Reetz principles for China LTC curriculum... 87 Table 3.23 The most frequent items/criteria coded in each curriculum plan... 90 Table 4.1 Category of influencing factors according to Fullan and Pomfret... 105 Table 4.2 Posner s influencing factors on curriculum implementation... 105 Table 4.3 Number of interviewees in each region... 117

List of Abbreviations BW Baden-Württemberg (a state in Germany) Cedefop European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training CERNET China Education Research Network KMK die Kultusministerkonferenz (Standing Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs, Germany) LTC Labor and Technical Course (a form of pre-vocational education in China) MOE Ministry of Education (China) NRW Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia, a state in Germany) PISA Programme for International Student Assessment STW School-To-Work VET Vocational Education and Training TVET Technical and Vocational Education and Training WAG Wirtschaft-Arbeit-Gesundheit (economy-work-health, a subject combination in secondary education curriculum in some states of Gemany) xv