This comparative study comprises apprentices who are becoming construction workers and shop salesmen’s within two different apprenticeship systems in a Swedish context. Particularly in this paper, the aim is to study how affordances for vocational learning can be viewed through these educational contexts. The data collection includes interviews and documents related to respectively educational system. The findings show that there are similarities between the two apparent different educational systems. One conclusion is that workplace demands overcome the criteria in the steering documents. Consequently, there are apparent constraints between stated goals and the affordances offered by workplaces in both educational systems. Hence, they both develop vocational competencies according to workplace demands that correspond to workplace activities.