ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will be started next year 2015. ASEAN country
members needbe ready toexchange, or even to compete their products or services. Skilled labor
is essential to be possessed by all the country members to successfully participate in AEC.
Vocational school is a strategic institution assigned to prepare its students to possess
competence for work in certain occupation. Therefore, the curriculum of vocational education
needs to be developed then consistently executed in such a way to gain expected skilled labors.
This paper will cover two discussions. First, in macro level, how the development of vocational
education curriculumrelevant to labor market as well as relevant to the national philosophy, and
eight (8) National Education Standards.Second, in micro level,how the curriculum is to be
implemented in school, especially in classroom and out ofclassroom settings. Furthermore, the
roles and commitment of National and Local governments,in decentralization era, together with
their stakeholders to support vocational education will also be analyzed. Summary as a
conclusion will be provided at the end of this paper combined with recommendations especially
for Government and people in business and industry.
Keywords: curriculum development, vocational education, decentralization, national economy
growth
