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The exploratory study in this paper investigates the learning-to-learn needs of students with disabilities in vocational education and training (VET) settings by discussing both the literature regarding all students, and the experiences of practitioners in this sector. It argues that flexible delivery in VET settings increasingly requires learner responsibility and self-direction in learning, which presumes a level of metacognitive skills. The overlap between the concepts of flexible learning, lifelong learning, responsibility for learning, metacognition, and self-direction in learning are raised. The study finds that in learning to learn, the match should be considered critical between any student's applied level of self-direction in a particular learning situation and the level of self-direction opportunities built in by the teacher or the curriculum. This is considered to have implications for the initial and ongoing training of VET teachers, who themselves need self-directed learning opportunities in order to be better able to demonstrate and discuss these skills with their students. The study identifies that many students with disabilities would be able to be supported to learn in mainstream courses of all VET curricula and allowed opportunities to introduce or develop metacognitive skills. However, there would still be a need for special, individual metacognitive training programs to cater for students with certain disabilities. Research required in a number of areas is identified. Overall, the findings of this study raise concern for all students in the current VET environment, not just those who have a disability.