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In order to provide a modern system of vocational training which meets the challenges of social, economic and technical developments, consideration needs to be given to how to modify and update that system. Modularisation and the further developments of the occupational approach are two different approaches to modernisation. This article discusses these two approaches. It begins by looking at specific examples of each: the Scottish National Certificate (NC) modular program as an example of modularisation; and the German dual system as an example of training using an occupational approach. These two approaches are two extreme ideals and the author proposes establishing a continuum between them along which mixed forms can be located. The General Scottish Vocational Qualifications (GSVQs) and new recognised occupations in Germany, two innovative examples of more moderate approaches located along the continuum, are then analysed. The author suggests how each of these approaches differs from its reference model. However, he concludes that it can not be assumed from this that vocational training systems are converging.