Context
The government of PR China is striving to reform its Education and Training System, to improve employability of its citizens on a national and global level. The city of Jincheng pilots the implementation of the German Tech-nical and Vocational System. Through tailoring the Ger-man model to the local conditions, the quality of educa-tion and vocational training shall be improved. Students, regional companies, and thereby the regional economy, shall benefit from the changes implemented.
Objective
The improved vocational programme will first be intro-duced into one pilot sector: coal chemistry and mecha-tronics. By the end of the 39 months implementation period, Jincheng Institute of Technology shall be able to offer training according to the curriculum and the quality standards determined by the programme. Furthermore, the institute shall implement a continuous improvement mechanism, enabling it to adapt to the needs of the com-panies for which its students are trained.
Approach
The curriculum, as well as organisation processes and procedures, must be redesigned and regulated. Despite the concept of field-based training approaches not being completely new to China, their implementation demands a new approach to teaching and being taught. Therefore, an integrated approach to the restructuring process has to be applied. The curriculum, methods of teaching and the corresponding practical experience within companies are carefully developed. The learning materials which will support the new approach to vocational training will be jointly prepared by GIZ and the Jincheng Institute of Technology.
The methods of learning will need to be redefined. In-stead of a teacher merely giving lectures, a problem-based approach will be introduced. Classes will consist of problem statements, describing difficult situations which might occur in everyday professional life. The students will be qualified to develop solutions to these problems by themselves. This way, students shall learn to analyse situations and individually tailor solutions to a variety of challenges.
Furthermore, aside from the technical side of teaching, the companies have to be incorporated into the reform process. To achieve this goal the programme introduces the company’s responsibility to adjust to its role as ‘learn-ing consultants’. Thereby students gradually gain practical experience, systematically preparing them for their final examination and future professional life.
Despite the pilot programme being designed for the edu-cational training of future coal chemistry and mechatron-ics engineers, its approach is applicable to multiple em-ployment fields. Furthermore, the college and companies are enabled to constantly improve the programme ac-cording to their individual and changing needs.