This article arises from the need to understand the development of Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems in different socioeconomic contexts, focusing on four Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Colombia) and the German case, to understand the current state and the differentiated dynamics of VET and its institutional structure. The German case – and its relative success in terms of articulation between training for work and business – constituted it as a reference for the evaluation of this type of institutions, which in the case of Latin America have not been unfamiliar with the policies of structural reforms based on the Washington Consensus (in some cases, they were privatised). The article is divided into three sections, which explain how vocational training programs work from a brief historical context, describing their operational structure, the legal framework from which they operate, the sources of funding, the main vocational training institutions, and their relationship with economic dynamics.