Inclusive Support Architectures in VET Across Five Countries: A Document-Based Mapping with an In-Depth Case Study of Swiss Support Courses

Summary The study maps inclusive support architectures in vocational education and training in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and England. It is based on a qualitative, category-driven document analysis of 79 documents that reconstructs support measures at the macro, meso and micro levels. The results show that inclusion is often broadly defined in the documents, but that institutional operationalisation takes place via different target group logics, access conditions, responsibilities and types of instruments. In comparison, support architectures are particularly visible in governance arrangements and legal-political frameworks and can be described comparatively as institutional arrangements. Swiss support courses are used as an in-depth case study to illustrate the documented organisational and didactic characteristics of a support format. The study does not make any causal statements about the effects of individual instruments, but rather reveals structures and rationales, thereby highlighting the limitations of document-based evidence. The mapping reveals a need to triangulate documented architectures more closely with data on usage, reach and results in order to be able to examine participation and equity issues more reliably in a cross-country comparison.