Changes in occupational, workplace requirements and working life in this era of digitalization prompt a reappraisal of the goals and processes of vocational education. These changes include: addressing the specific requirements of workplaces and developing occupational competence; learning knowledge that is difficult to directly experience (e.g. digital knowledge) required for what is often referred to as knowledge work. Learning these kinds of knowledge has become a priority given the increasing digitalization of contemporary work. So, there is a need for vocational education to respond to this challenge and this includes preparing students to become active and intentional learners for their initial preparation and ongoing development across working life. Proposed here are ways forward by adopting curriculum and pedagogic practices aligned with achieving these kinds of outcomes. This includes considerations of what constitutes effective educational experiences (both within educational institutions and workplaces), ordering and reconciling these two sets of experiences, the use of educational interventions to secure these kinds of capacities within vocational education, including digitized knowledge. This requires accounting for what constitutes existing and emerging occupational and workplace performance requirements and aligning these with the kinds of curriculum and pedagogic practices that vocational education institutions and educators need to advance in an era of digitalization.