From Rigid Tracking to Coordinated Development: Equity Implications and Realistic Scrutiny in China’s General-Vocational Education Integration Policy

Main Article Content

Meiqi Zhai
School of Education, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK

DOI: https://doi.org/10.70267/iclpce.20262937

Keywords

general-vocational education integration (GVEI), tracking system, educational anxiety, social reproduction

Abstract

China's 2022 Vocational Education Law advocates the integration of general vocational education (GVEI) and raises vocational education to an equal status with general academic education. This review aims to explore the equitable impact of this policy change and examine the structural shortcomings in its current implementation. The analysis shows that the GVEI policy has not fostered true two-way coordinated development. On the contrary, the policy largely serves as a one-way channel for vulnerable students to escape the vocational education track. At the same time, under the strong inertia of social reproduction, the tracking system continues to intensify the competition in hierarchical education driven by parents’ rational status anxiety and relative risk avoidance. This review concludes that alleviating educational anxiety and achieving real equity cannot rely solely on internal education reform. Meaningful educational equity requires comprehensive structural reforms to reshape the valuation of technical skills in the labor market. Future studies should empirically track the long-term labor market outcomes of students navigating the integrated system to evaluate the policy’s effectiveness in practice.

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Published
Jul 7, 2026
Conference Proceedings Volume
Vol. 24 (2026): Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Linguistics, Psychology and Creative Education (ICLPCE 2026)
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Articles
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How to Cite

Zhai, Meiqi. “From Rigid Tracking to Coordinated Development: Equity Implications and Realistic Scrutiny in China’s General-Vocational Education Integration Policy”. Exploring Science Academic Conference Series, vol. 24, July 2026, pp. 29-37, https://doi.org/10.70267/iclpce.20262937.