Reports analyzing vocational-technical education (VTE) in individual member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD) were reviewed to identify changes in the role of VTE in the context of technological and structural change, economic crisis, and uncertainty. Major transformations in VTE affecting its organization, structures, and pathways were examined and attributed to the intervention and interaction of many different groups, including students, their parents, local and national governments, employers and trade unions, and educational institutions and teachers. It was discovered that VTE is currently facing two major challenges: reconciling "education" and "training" and strengthening democracy in the context of social and economic differentiation. The following strategies for meeting both challenges were examined: conceiving VTE as part of one unified system of lifelong learning; organizing educational pathways with multilevel exit points; addressing problems of flows inside educational systems and between education and employment "realistically"; responding to social and economic developments through innovation in curricula and certification; and improving partnership and cooperation and avoiding destabilization of existing formal VTE systems. Among the priorities established for VTE in OECD countries were the following: maintain a level of knowledge adapted to the modern world, promote shared values, and avoid tracking. (MN)