The attractiveness of vocational education and training has decreased in recent years in some Nordic and European Union countries, with more students choosing to maximize their chances of accessing higher education through the traditional academic track. The popularity of VET grew rapidly in Finland during the 2000s after mandatory work-based learning and general eligibility for higher education were introduced to vocational upper secondary qualifications and has remained high ever since. This chapter explores from a discursive perspective how leading Finnish experts and policymakers make sense of changes in twenty-first century VET policy. Many experts believe that alongside economic and political integration with the European Union over the last two decades, Finland has gradually adopted a more instrumental, economistic approach to VET that, instead of increasing parity between VET and general upper secondary school, treats VET as a separate issue. Although VET plays a vital role in the opportunity structure, we argue that there is a profound difference between the current economized discourse about competence and skills and older discourses emphasizing the importance of educating people into well-rounded professionals with a solid foundation for democratic citizenship and access to higher education.