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Vocationalism and competency-based training are mostly seen as opposing principles underlying different VET [vocational education and training] systems. However, despite the fact that the German VET system is influenced by the vocational principle, which is regarded as maintaining a stable system generating high quality vocational qualifications, the competency debate has entered current VET research in Germany. The reason is that learning and work processes change due to increasing globalisation and technological progress, and therefore more flexible and adjustable qualification processes are demanded. Different research activities approach the concept of competency focusing mainly on the question of what constitutes competency in vocational and didactic theory. A widely used and broadly discussed concept is the so called ‘professional action competency’, which includes technical, methodical, social and personal competency. Although this concept has been the focus of several research projects, the question of its impact on learning processes based on vocationalism has not been answered yet. The paper will discuss this impact by establishing a comparative perspective between competency-based learning processes and processes based on the vocational principle. Their differences and similarities and the question of whether a competency-based approach can be integrated into a vocationally based approach, will be discussed against the background of the current competency debate in Germany. Furthermore, the issue of whether a competency-based approach has potential to improve the flexibility and self-directedness of existing qualification processes will be illustrated by the example of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector where new approaches to vocational learning are evident.