Ethical Risks and Collaborative Governance in the Digital-Intelligent Transformation of Vocational Education Driven by New Quality Productive Forces
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66581/hhngk783Keywords:
new quality productive forces, vocational education, digital-intelligent transformation, artificial intelligence ethics, ethical risk, collaborative governanceAbstract
The development of new quality productive forces is accelerating the reorganization of industrial structures, work processes, and skill requirements in China. Vocational education is therefore under strong pressure to integrate artificial intelligence, learning analytics, big data, virtual simulation, and platform-based school-enterprise cooperation. These technologies can improve access, instructional efficiency, practical training, and responsiveness to labor-market change; however, they also redistribute information, authority, and responsibility within educational systems. This conceptual article examines the ethical risks of digital-intelligent transformation in vocational education and develops a context-sensitive governance framework. It integrates risk society theory, a socio-technical systems perspective, the complementarity of rule-based and virtue ethics, and collaborative governance. Five interconnected risk domains are identified: datafication and privacy intrusion; algorithmic bias and deficits in procedural justice; erosion of teacher and student agency; displacement of craftsmanship by narrow efficiency metrics; and asymmetries of power, data ownership, and accountability in industry-education partnerships. These risks are generated through four mutually reinforcing mechanisms: technical opacity and model uncertainty, institutional lag and fragmented responsibility, incentive and power asymmetries among stakeholders, and a culture of technological instrumentalism. On this basis, the article proposes a four-dimensional governance framework comprising value alignment, institutional regulation, technical assurance, and ethical capability development. Scenario-specific safeguards are further specified for classroom teaching, practical training and assessment, industry-education integration, and student administration. The article contributes by linking macro-level productive transformation to meso-level institutional change and micro-level educational ethics, while translating general AI principles into operational requirements for vocational education.
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