Abstract:

From pre-industrial society to post-industrial society, technicians' knowledge structure has changed from one dimension to four dimensions. In post-industrial society, technicians' four-dimensioned knowledge structure includes:experiential technical knowledge, material technical knowledge, methodological technical knowledge and theoretical technical knowledge. Each has its specific mechanisms of development and operation.
Firstly, experiential technical knowledge takes the form of skills and experiments, which tends to be personalized, emotional, tacit, pre-scientific, system-integrated, situational, etc. Material technical knowledge takes the machine as its carrier, which is semi-theoretical and semi-empirical. Material technical knowledge is utilized to create, accumulate and implement the knowledge through operating and controlling machines. Methodological technical knowledge is a knowledge of design and decision, which contributes to the design of working process and decision-making. Secondly, the development of experiential technical knowledge and material technical knowledge requires training and internalization in workplaces. The development of methodological technical knowledge relies on the transfer and insight in the mentoring apprenticeship. The development of theoretical technical knowledge requires accumulation and the sublimation of learning in schools.
In recent years, there have been several defects in the professional training modes in vocational colleges. Firstly, the ways of collaboration between vocational colleges and enterprises have helped little to train qualified technicians for the manufacturing industry. In addition, the collaboration has provided ineffective learning experience. Last but not least, the collaboration has not been designed to provide enterprises with a platform for operation. Therefore, it's imperative to revolutionize the professional training modes, including the transformation of technicians' knowledge structure.
Modern apprenticeship offers a new perspective of the transformation. Firstly, it has established close relationship between students and the production situation, which can help students gain plenty of first-hand knowledge from the production process. Secondly, based on a stable mentoring relationship, modern apprenticeship can help students gain methodological technical knowledge needed in modern society. Thirdly, stakeholders can be gathered together in vocational college and enterprises in support of the cultivation of skilled talents. In conclusion, modern apprenticeship is of great value for the training of skilled talents, and it's essential to find a proper way to integrate modern apprenticeship into the cultivation of skilled talents between vocational colleges and enterprises.

Key words: vocational education, modern apprenticeship, value, knowledge structure, technicians