The relationship between vocational training and professional education is a socially highly relevant issue that still affects more than half of a cohort in Germany. This problem area includes the following questions: What developments are taking place in the world of work? Are these developments foreseeable? How are the qualification requirements for skilled workers evolving? What concepts are being used to address the changes in the world of work within vocational education? And how does the acquisition of competencies by trainees and skilled workers take place within this framework? This book examines these various methodological positions and makes them fruitful for vocational education research. A broad understanding of vocational education research is assumed here: it ranges from the analysis of job requirements to the assessment of the competencies actually acquired by skilled workers, as well as the design of educational pathways and processes. Relevant areas of tension are to be explored in this context.