This paper will draw upon current research into the development of vocational specialisms in 200 secondary schools in England in line with the goals of the Lisbon Strategy. It will show how the schools interpret the broad policy thrust for vocational learning and develop versions of vocationalism which reflect their local circumstances, histories and institutional partnerships.The research, which began in 2005 and will run until 2008, includes both quantitative and case study elements. This paper will draw primarily upon 15 case studies of schools and partners involved in the Vocational Specialist Schools (VSS) programme. The case studies involve a significant longitudinal element and entail interviews with a wide range of staff and students in schools, colleges, private training providers, employers, advice and guidance services and local education authorities. They also involve observation of vocational learning and documentary analysis.The paper will use the concept of policy refraction (Taylor et al, 1997) to explain the ways in which different schools are implementing the VSS programme and the different forms of institutional, curriculum and staff development being deployed. The effects of a range of national and local policy drivers and local and institutional contexts upon these processes will be explored.The curricular approaches to vocationalism within the VSS programme will be analysed in terms of four dimensions and the interaction between them: (i) Modes of learning - including the identification and focus upon broader and narrower vocational knowledge and skills; the conceptualisation and balance of 'practical' and 'theoretical' learning; (ii) Sites of learning - the extent to which learning takes place in schools, colleges, training providers or workplaces; (iii) Organisation of learning - the development of partnerships between providers; the recruitment and development of staff; the deployment of resources for vocational learning; (iv) Assessment and certification of learning - including the influence of current assessment regimes. The paper will interrogate the forms of vocationalism which are emerging from the VSS programme in relation to earlier theoretical models such as the 'new vocationalism' (Bates et al, 1984), 'liberal vocationalism' (Silver & Brennan, 1988) and 'controlled vocationalism' (Bates et al, 1998). The paper will provide comparative insights into the interplay in curriculum between the European and global (the knowledge economy), the national (the vocational specialist schools programme) and the local (institutional responses) within the English context which will be of relevance to European colleagues from systems facing similar curricular challenges but from within somewhat different contexts and histories. It will also provide examples of current approaches to the development of school-based vocational learning in England which can be interestingly compared to different vocational traditions and practices in other European countries, not least in the light of the Helsinki Communiqué taking forward the Copenhagen process. Bates, I., Bloomer, M., Hodkinson, P. & Yeomans, D. (1998) Progressivism and the GNVQ: context, ideology and practice Journal of Education and Work, 11(2), 109-125. Bates, I., Clarke, J., Cohen, P., Finn, D., Moore, R. & Willis, P. (1984) Schooling for the Dole (London, Macmillan). Silver, H. & Brennan, J. (1988) A Liberal Vocationalism (London, Methuen). Taylor, S., Rizvi, F., Lingard, B. & Henry, M. (1997) Educational Policy and the Politics of Change (London, Routledge).A European or international curriculum journal.