<p> In a wider sense work education may coincide with the general education or may be a part or addition to it. In developing culture while meeting the altering requirements of society - work education changes as well - from unconscious natural for activity forms to the means based on general literacy. General tendencies of work education ideas are determined not only by altering requirements of soviety, level of economic development, cultural environment, but also by philosophical - pedagogical conceptions. </p> <p> The scope of this work is the theories of work education. The subject of research is the peculiarities of functioning of work education in different cultures. The objective of the work is to review and generalize the theories of work education in order to clarify the tendencies of their functionality in different cultures. </p> <p> The article covers the analysis of general tendencies in evolution of work education ideas in the context of humanity history and the review of functionality of work education ideas in Europe and America, as well as some aspects of work education in Lithuania. </p>