This paper examines how recent Danish VET policies materialise in practice by analysing an ecology of VET situations—the interplay between policy texts, organisational arrangements, and the lived experiences of VET schools. The contribution is twofold: first, a systematic overview of Danish VET policy developments from 2015 to 2025; second, practice‑proximal insights into how these policies are translated and enacted within three VET‑schools. This analysis builds on scholarship documenting long‑standing dilemmas in Danish VET (Jørgensen & Bøndergaard, 2018), notably the persistent “wicked problem” of balancing attractiveness, inclusion, and labour‑market demands (Cort, 2025). Together, the analyses show how national intentions travel into organisational routines and pedagogical practice. Drawing on systematic coding of 61 policies (2015–2025)—Attractiveness (A=20), Transition (B=8), and Participation (C=33)—the paper shows a post‑2018 pivot towards participation, student well‑being, and inclusion, alongside uneven attention to attractiveness and transition mechanisms (Rasmussen, 2025). I then present three organisational stories—polyphonic, practice‑proximal narratives condensing distributed communications into empirically grounded plots (Czarniawska, 1997)—focused on (i) technology/construction, (ii) care/health, and (iii) multi‑site provision with flexible entry. These stories serve as representational devices and an analytic frame. The ecology‑of‑situations lens draws on King’s situational approach (1966) and Billett’s relational account of workplace learning (2014), combining policy–institutional interplay with practice‑based learning ecologies. Empirically, I synthesise policy documents (executive orders, national agreements, CEDEFOP briefs, and evaluation reports), institutional artefacts, and observational and interview data from three colleges. Analytically, I trace translation and recontextualisation as policies move into organisational routines, pedagogical practices, and workplace‑based training environments. Findings show that (a) participation‑oriented measures materialise clearly in first‑year pathway redesigns; (b) transition mechanisms depend on cross‑institutional coordination; and (c) attractiveness initiatives generate visibility but limited evidence of durable recruitment effects. The cases also illuminate a persistent dropout paradox—low unemployment yet high attrition—and underscore how workplace training quality and social integration shape retention. Viewed through a travelling‑reforms lens, the Danish case shows how policy texts and policy‑in‑practice are co‑produced as ideas circulate, are recontextualised, and translated within organisational and workplace settings rather than simply “borrowed” (Steiner‑Khamsi, 2023). This dual reading aligns with cross‑national evidence that VET reforms travel as problem–solution scripts (attractiveness, retention, permeability) whose effects depend on local ecologies of implementation (Ciantar, 2025). Accordingly, the findings speak to international debates by illustrating how mobile VET policy repertoires gain traction—or fray—at the intersection of institutional routines and work‑based learning across the EU.

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