A Comparative and Contrastive Study of UK and Germany from the View of Higher Vocational Education
Introduction
With the advent of knowledge economy and information age, research and development of technology has become the driving force of knowledge economy industry and the motivation to push forward information society which calls for corresponding technicians. However, as is reported, in the 1980s, it was apparently clear that the workforce in the UK was less well prepared for employment than in many of the countries of its competitors and only 40% of the workforce in the UK held qualifications relevant to their jobs, compared with 85% in Germany (Zuo et al. 2004). Thus, ...view middle of the document...
These organizations call on together representatives of academic institutions, employers, trades unions and professions to prescribe the syllabuses needed to suit the course patterns and qualifications they offer. In addition, universities and some colleges design their own standards and syllabuses to fit the objectives of their courses and qualifications more closely (Thompson 1995). Similarly, higher vocational universities or institutions in Germany adopt tow-way education system which resembles the one in UK. Based on modern science and technology, the curriculum, whose core course is occupation activity, can be divided into two main parts: theoretical courses and practical training courses (leading role). Additionally, the curriculum content is flexible for selection according to the requirements for different professions and their correspondent occupation competence needs thus well integrating the general knowledge and professional knowledge and ensuring the high quality of education. Also, it can keep up its progressiveness with the teaching content in the comprehensive university to some extent. For both of these two course patterns, they are successfully applied in UK and Germany respectively.
Curriculum
BTEC, short for Business and Technology Education Council, has a leading position in secondary and higher vocational education as well as training in the world. In UK, there are more than three million students that have ever received BETC vocational education. The BTEC model of curriculum structure is modular, composed of a core curriculum, compulsory course and elective course (Soskice 1993). As to the knowledge system, it is vertical, emphasizing the convergence of curriculum system. Students can learn bit by bit, from the shallower to the deeper in order to better digest the knowledge. BTEC mode is interdisciplinary, with comprehensive curriculum content. During the teaching, students are not only required to have a highly targeted textbook, but also encouraged to find information, train self-learning ability. Its structure is loose and flexible. BTEC curriculum model is an implementation of modern educational thought form. Its running process reflects the "people-oriented" thinking, teaching the student bodies by a variety of teaching methods, such as security analysis, discussion, case studies, lectures, social surveys, information gathering and role-playing. With this particular curriculum model for teaching, relationship between teachers and students differs the one during the traditional modes. The teacher's role is not just a mere of the person who passes on knowledge, educates on various subjects, and solve problems; but more of a person who is able to help, guide students through the creation of a brand new teaching environment, inspiring students' interest in learning, stimulating their curiosity and thirst for knowledge, causing students to ask questions, thinking and solving problems, motivating...