In search of evidence-based effective practices for improving vocational student employability: A study of the implementation of national policy on scaling up effective vocational schools in China.

摘要

This study examines how Chinese vocational high school principals as leaders of a national policy implementation process made meaning of vocational student employability and the associated effective practices in the process of interacting and consulting with different groups and individuals. It also investigates the potential outcomes and consequences of their sense-making processes. This study contributes to the literature on both vocational education reform and policy implementation. First, it investigated the meaning of vocational student employability and skills as defined in the implementation process of a national policy in China. The discussion on skills and employability has been at the center of the discussion on vocational education reform in many countries. This study adds to the international discussion on this topic with empirical research from the Chinese context. In addition, this study also examined the different groups and individuals that were engaged in the policy implementation process. The activities of these communities and the ideas represented by these communities were driven by international trends but, at the same time, they were constrained by the Chinese political context. From the perspective of comparative education research, by illustrating the participation of these communities in the policy process, this study adds to the comparative literature the roles played and the functions served by the structures and actors in policy implementation.