The present form of vocational education in the Federal Republic of Germany with its origins in trades and crafts of the Middle Ages has existed since the 1920s. Only in 1969, however, did comprehensive legislation declare company vocational training within the sphere of state responsibility, give unions participation rights in determining training content, and create a Federal Institute for Vocational Education Research. Improved quality of training but fewer training places led to the Act on the Promotion of Training Places (1976), which provided certain prerequisites for the future of vocational education: it became a political subject and "demand for training" is now measured by the number of school leavers, not by industry's needs. The future development of vocational education will be determined by (1) society's image of a working person, (2) cooperation between employers and unions, (3) well-trained vocational school teachers and training personnel, and (4) individual benefit given to handicapped, foreign children, and females. Despite different education systems in the Federal Republic and the United States, work of vocational educators and youth problems are similar. Views should be exchanged regarding school to work transition, greater adjustment between the education and employment systems, learning on the job, and financing vocational education. (YLB)