• 대한공업교육학회지
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.21-45
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to verify how the vocational education for training industrial workforce as a national human resource development (NHRD) system has undergone a transition process in relation to the national economic, industrial, and socio-cultural contexts. First, how vocational education as an industrial workforce training system has changed in accordance with Korea's economic environment, industrial development, and social changes; second, what are the main factors that influenced the role and importance of vocational education; and third, vocational education as a system for training industrial workforce and training workforce in science and engineering were analyzed differently from the perspective of the NHRD model. To this end, domestic and international academic journal papers, research reports, and thesis were investigated and classified by period, and major changes in vocational education were analyzed in relation to economic, industrial, and social issues and policies by period. As a result of the research, first, as the industry advanced, the level of vocational education increased and the scope expanded. Second, vocational education tended to shrink gradually after the manufacturing industry base, and especially secondary vocational education tended to decline after the national industry focused on light industry. Third, since the 1970s, the diversification of the NHRD and jobs has resulted in wage gaps depending on the level of education, which has increased the preference for university education and avoided secondary vocational education. In addition, a NHRD model focusing on training science and engineering workforce was proposed to compare the existing NHRD model focusing on overall vocational education, and it was revealed that the NHRD needs to be subdivided into various fields or levels to derive a model and examine changes. From the results of the study, vocational education in Korea, especially in secondary vocational education, has declined due to large impacts on socio-cultural perception due to economic growth, enthusiasm for education, and external shocks such as the financial crisis, and the long-term effort to change this perception is suggested to overcome the crisis of vocational education.