In the Dutch VET system, competence based education is the leading paradigm for innovation both on systems´ level as well as on the level of teaching and learning arrangements. This phenomenon was the impetus for organising a scientific conference in October 2002, under the umbrella of the Dutch Educational Research Association (VOR), to bring to the fore a diversity of results of educational research related to competence based VET. Researchers from different traditions presented state of the art overviews on Dutch research: psychology, pedagogy, sociology and economics, all were present at the October -conference. This paper gives an overview of these results and a critical reflection on the usefulness of the competence movement for the development of Dutch VET. The paper starts with a historical analysis of the development of competence based education to shed light on the attractiveness of competence based education both in educational politics as well as in the educational practice of Dutch VET. What is new of competence based VET, and which roots can be discerned in traditional educational movements? The historical analysis will be embedded internationally, by comparisons with developments in the Anglo-Saxonian and German VET systems. In the next section, the core concepts and prejudices of the competence movement are analysed. Main issues are work-related learning; the learning potential of the workplace; motivational aspects and attractiveness of CBE; learning potential and capacity for self steered learning of students; forward and backward mapping of learning trajectories; assessment of prior learning and the socio-economic role of school-based and work-based VET. For this analysis, the presentations of the October- conference will be major input. By that, this section will give an overview of Dutch educational research related to the field of VET. Based on this analysis, pitfalls and roads for future development will be sketched. In the final section, some conclusions and implications will be formulated on the relations between policy, practice and research. In order to develop flexible VET, systems, ready for the emerging knowledge based economy, a learning policy connecting governance, practice and research, will turn out to be the most fruitful way.