The history of VET reminds us that in many countries VET evolved as an option for the further education of the kids of the working class and, as secondary education extended to the majority of the population of a country, VET was also considered as an option for those students more practically than academically oriented. Nowadays, in a context of increasing international competition and a prolongation of compulsory and post-compulsory secondary education, the challenge for VET is to contribute to the successful enrolment and retention of youth who either were early school leavers or who suffer exclusion for different reasons, be them any kind of special education needs or also access and progression of late comers to the education system, as is the case of refugees or people who migrated in their childhood or teen years. The challenge for VET systems and for VET educators is to be ready to provide their best support in the vocational preparation and qualification of these people, hence contributing to equal access to appropriate teaching methods, therefore widening it to other challenges as those of civic engagement or digitalisation. The contribution opens insides in the comparison of activities in Germany, Norway, Sweden Finland, Switzerland and Spain. It can be shown that there are different professionals involved in the integration of disadvantaged and disabled and that the integration in daily schools and to deal with the heterogeneity still is a challenge for VET teachers.

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