In this paper we present a description of the practices of guidance in educational organizations that develop initial VET in Spain, that is, Formación Profesional Básica (FPB), aimed at those students situated in the category of school failure. We focus on to what extent discursive practices of counsellors, i.e. the contextual realizations, strengthen or undermine the expansion of the social positions of these students when they access FPB. In order to fulfil this objective we use the theoretical model of Group of Research on Education and Work (GRET) to analyse the educational transitions of these students considering the path they have done and the paths they may have after finishing the program (Casal, García, Merino y Quesada, 2006a, 2006b); and the theory of the pedagogic discourse of Basil Bernstein (1998) to describe and analyse the discursive practices of counsellors. The combination of both theoretical approaches allows us to understand to what extent attending in a specific educational organization facilitates or hinders social integration.

The reforms of the educational system and, more precisely, of their curricula are primarily a question linked to the construction of identities that are officially pursued in a normative context. The reflection on the reforms and their effects therefore supposes the attempt to describe the meaning of the regulations ant the attempts to build a space that allows to observe changes in the moral, cultural or even economic field. The several reforms performed since the 1990s in the insertion policies (Castel, 1997) aimed at the professional orientation of those students at-risk of social exclusion are our research interest as they allow as to understand the identities that are constructed, that is, offered to those students in regard to the achievement of a social integration, that should be one of the main aims of the educational institution.

Our work is framed within the European project Application of Apprenticeship in the Vocational Integration of the Socially Disadvantaged Youth (APPRENTSOD), that has analysed several training experiences considering the effect it may have for the social inclusion of young students in a situation of social disadvantage. To do this, policies for employment and social inclusion of Germany, Lithuania, Italy and Spain have been revised, as well as the options each of these countries have to offer a practical training, primarily in work contexts, such as work internships or apprenticeship contracts. Furthermore, several high schools and social or local entities that are distinguished by their attention to the youth population in a situation of social disadvantage have been studied (Saniter y Bücker, 2014).

In this theoretical and research framework, the study conducted had as main aim analysing the selection and incorporation of young students to Initial VET programs, and to what extent these processes and the programs themselves contribute to the construction of certain identities. By identities we refer to the subjectivities reproduced through institutionalized practices in educational relationships. Thus, we take the concept of identity developed by Basil Bernstein (1998) who defines it as the result of embedding a career in a collective base. The student’s career is a knowledge career, a moral career and a locational career. Although we won’t go in depth into the different identities proposed by the author, we would like to emphasize precisely that the students career is closely related to these three facts (knowledge, moral and location) that are developed in specific educational contexts. By describing and analysing the discursive practices of counsellors in different organizations considering these three elements of pedagogical identity, we expect to find out how subjectivities are constructed in the pedagogical relationship established between students and counsellors in Initial VET.

Bernstein, B. (1998). Pedagogía, control simbólico e identidad. Teoría, investigación crítica. Madrid: Ediciones Morata. Casal, J., García, M., Merino, R. y Quesada, M. (2006a). Changes in forms of transition in contexts of informational capitalism. Papers, 79, 195-223. Retrieved from http://www.raco.cat/index.php/papers/article/viewFile/51829/57558 Casal, J., García, M., Merino, R. y Quesada, M. (2006b). Aportaciones teóricas y metodológicas a la sociología de la juventud desde la perspectiva de la transición. Papers, 79, 21-48. Retrieved from http://ddd.uab.cat/pub/papers/02102862n79/02102862n79p21.pdf Castel, R. (1997). La metamorfosis de la cuestión social: una crónica del salariado. Barcelona: Paidós. Marhuenda-Fluixá, F., Salvà-Mut, F., Navas-Saurin, A. A. y Abiétar-López, M. (2015). Twenty Years of Basic Vocational Education Provision in Spain: Changes and Trends. International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training, 2(2), 137-151. doi:10.13152/IJRVET.2.2.8. Pitarch Garrido, M. D. y Uceda i Maza, F. X. (2012). Territorio, vulnerabilidad social y trayectoria delictiva en adolescentes de la ciudad de Valencia. Paper presented at the XII Congreso de la Población Española, Santander, España. Retrieved from http://mobiroderic.uv.es/bitstream/handle/10550/30014/vulnerabilidad%20jovenes%20delincuentes%202012.pdf?sequence=1yisAllowed=y. Saniter, A. y Bücker, L. (2014). Comparative Analysis of Measures, Approaches and Case Studies of Vocational Integration of the Socially Disadvantaged Youth in Italy, Germany, Spain and Lithuania. In http://www.sodapprent.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/APPRENTSOD-WP2-WP3-CompAnalysis-30092014.pdf