Abstract:

The 14th Five-Year Plan for the Implementation of Major National Basic Education Projects, held by the Chinese Ministry of Education in February 2022, called for the "development of special education at the high school level with vocational education as the main focus" and the "integration of vocational education and special education. The 14th Five-Year Plan for Enhancing the Vocational Skills of Persons with Disabilities, issued in March 2022, further sets out specific requirements for the employment of persons with disabilities: "By 2025, the training supply will be continuously improved to basically meet the needs of persons with disabilities for all types of vocational training. By 2025, the training supply will be continuously improved to basically meet the needs of persons with disabilities for various types of vocational training. On November 15, 2022, the "Standard for the Establishment of Secondary Vocational Schools for Persons with Disabilities" was issued, putting the development of vocational education for persons with disabilities on China's agenda.

According to the statistics of China Education Statistical Yearbook in 2020, the number of students enrolled in special education schools nationwide was 303,543, of which 204,917 were students with intellectual disabilities, accounting for 67.51% of the total number of students enrolled in special education schools and possessing an absolute proportion. Even so, there is a particular lack of access to high school vocational education for students with intellectual disabilities, with a total of 24,177 intellectual disability ninth grade students enrolled in 2019 and 2,037 intellectual disability senior high school students enrolled in 2020, estimating that less than 10% of intellectual disability students will be promoted to middle school.

Through in-depth interviews with six faculty members from different regions of China who are engaged in work related to vocational education for people with intellectual disabilities, the authors practically investigated the current situation and developmental dilemmas of vocational education for people with intellectual disabilities in China from four aspects: management, teaching, apprenticeship, and employment, and made suggestions for the development of vocational education for people with intellectual disabilities in China from the perspective of front-line educators.

Keywords:

Mental Retardation, Special Education, Vocational Education.