Abstract
Continuing vocational education is among the segments of adult education that attract the greatest interest and support. Also within the development of the idea of lifelong learning in European countries, this area of adult education has received the most attention in recent years from education policy-makers as well as from the methodologists and other participants in adult education.
The paper links the above facts with the theoretical background of the modern concept of lifelong learning and with the application of this idea in educational practice. At the same time, it compares the situation of continuing vocational education in the Czech Republic with that in other countries of the European Union and presents the main development trends in this important component of lifelong learning.