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This article examines the introduction of vocational education in schools and the arguments for and against this recent initiative in Australia and other similar countries. The complexity of policy in this educational area and the impact of it on the aims of such courses in schools is analysed. The conclusion is that there is a great deal of confusion about what vocational education is attempting to achieve and that many of its critics have not seen its potential to develop in students similar outcomes to that which general education seeks to achieve. How vocational education within a competency framework is to be conceptualised in curriculum and taught in classrooms is discussed. The article concludes that vocational education in schools is to be welcomed, despite current problems with its implementation.