In the Federal Republic of Germany, apprenticeship is the preponderant form of vocational training. The basis of the training is a private legal contract between the trainer and the trainee. The practical part of the training takes place in the training firm from 3 to 4 days per week, and the theoretical part takes place in a vocational school 1 or 2 days each week. Economic, labor market, and technological development has a profound effect on both the demand for and the offer of work-related vocational training. The influence of technological advancement both on the occupational structure and on the relative demands for certain types of jobs and levels of skill are already being felt in the workplace. The changes that are currently underway in the German economy and labor market are making it increasingly necessary that vocational training provide more (1) basic occupational education, such as that which has traditionally been the province of general education; (2) training in the areas of abstraction, thinking and planning skills, and cooperation; and (3) technical work-related training, perhaps in the form of vocational instruction by correspondence. It is particularly important that the latter be provided for vocational instructors and teachers. (MN)