The European debate on qualification frameworks and formal and non-formallearning processes forces Germany to reconsider its vocational education model.Against this background the discussion on competences and the scientific discourseon methods of competence evaluation are moving into the centre of interest. Thisvolume presents the contributions of the seven AG BFN forums to the competencediscourse that consider the international compatibility of Germany's vocationalqualifications and thus indirectly its global competitiveness.Adopting the perspectives of science, vocational training policies and practice, thecontributions offer theoretical, empirical and vocational training perspectives for theevaluation of competences.The editorsDieter Münk is Director of the Institute for "Allgemeine Pädagogik undBerufspädagogik" at the Technical University Munich