Upskilling the workforce? A critical analysis of national skills policies in China’s Reform Era

Abstract

Government reports and documents claim that building a high skill society is critical for national success in China. In this paper, eight policies in relation to the government’s espoused priorities of upskilling are examined. Applying the principles of critical policy analysis, the paper aims to expose the ideological presuppositions made in these policies. The findings in this paper reveal that the Chinese government may have focused on upgrading the credentials, rather than the actual skills that these credentials signal, thus reinforced forms of consciousness that maintain the academic-focus, credential-driven hegemony. The new policies have vigorously invested in the ‘model schools’, yet further excluding non-model schools and the marginalised learners. This investment, emphasising the ‘supply-side’ of skills provision, has also led to a more fragmented connection between the training system and industry. The promotion of ‘entrepreneurial talent training’, with an intention of enhancing young people’s employability and building a knowledge-based economy, may act as a technique for ‘self-government’ under the influence of a neoliberal ideology. The responsibility of skill acquisition may have shifted to individual students, who will encounter increased precarity on their routes into work. Drawing on Gramsci’s concept of hegemonic power, the paper highlights China’s national skills policies may further facilitate the reproduction of current forms of inequality in training as well as contribute to construct and manage the neoliberal subjects required by the Reform Era.

Keywords:

• Skills policy
• critical analysis
• vocational education and training
• upskilling

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 ‘Iron rice bowl’ refers to the job assignment system that comes with the lifetime guarantee of steady salaries and the benefits of a socialist welfare package (Hoffman 2006, p. 551).

2 The students in benke route are normally awarded four-year academic degrees.

3 Chinese vocational colleges generally offer three-year vocational degrees (zhuanke route).

4 Measures for the administration of vocational programme on the benke level (trial) and Benke level vocational college standards (trial) were published by the Ministry of Education in 2021.

5 The programmes required high expenditure from the employers include setting up enterprise-affiliated college, developing programme and curriculum, donating facilities, providing training for teaching staff, offering internship/apprentice positions (Yang 2019).

6 Jack Ma is a celebrated entrepreneur and co-founder of Alibaba, a multinational technology conglomerate.

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Funding

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