VET programmes for disadvantaged youths in Spain were established in the 90’s in the context of the extension of obligatory schooling until 16 and the reform of the VET system, through the Organic Act on the General Organisation of the Education System (Ley Orgánica de Ordenación General del Sistema Educativo –LOGSE-) of October 1990. Since then, lower secondary education (LSE) consists of four academic years (from 12 until 16). After graduation, students receive a lower secondary education certificate (Graduado/a en Educación Secundaria Obligatoria – GESO), that is a precondition to access to upper secondary education (High school or Intermediate VET). With the intention of providing students that did not obtain the GESO certificate an access to the first level of VET, Social Guarantee Schemes (Programas de Garantía Social) were created. These programmes have suffered various changes until embracing the Basic VET, introduced by the education reform of 2013 (Marhuenda-Fluizà, Salvà-Mut, Navas-Saurín, & Abiétar-López, 2015). Research in the field of educational inclusion and exclusion in Basic VET is particularly relevant in Spain, due to the high rates of Early School Leaving (ESL) and NEETs, as well as the difficulties found by ESL that want to return to their studies (Albert, Davia, & Toharia, 2008; Fernández-Enguita, Mena, & Rivière, 2010; García, Casal, Merino, & Sánchez, 2013; Salvà-Mut, Quintana-Murci, & Desmarais, 2015). In this contribution, we examine different aspects associated with educational inclusion and exclusion in Basic VET in the context of a longitudinal study, part of the project “Pathways leading to success in, or dropout from, vocational training in the education system at levels 1 and 2” funded by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitivity, the National Research Agency and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the national I+D+I framework. Our investigation is a quantitative approximation, based on the execution of a questionnaire to a representative sample of 351 students that started Basic VET in Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain) in the academic year 2014/2015. In accordance with the obtained data, around 32% of the students leave their studies during the first year. In this context, our aim is first to identify the sociodemographic and school biography characteristics of the students who register in Basic VET, as well as the reasons of choosing one or other course (in health, building, gastronomy, etc.). Then, we ambition to underline the differences between students that finish their studies successfully and those who leave them prematurely.

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