This pre-conference workshop creates a structured forum for international and Australasian delegates to engage in comparative analysis of current developments in vocational education and training (VET) research, policy, and practice across diverse national and regional contexts. Grounded in comparative education methodologies, this workshop facilitates critical examination of how different jurisdictions conceptualise, regulate, and enact VET within distinct socio-economic, political, and cultural frameworks.

The session will provide a comprehensive overview of the Australian VET research landscape examining key institutional actors, funding mechanisms, policy drivers, and epistemological orientations that characterise VET scholarship in the region. This contextualisation will foreground the Australasian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA)'s distinctive contribution to international VET discourse. Participants will then engage in structured opportunities for them to present insights from their own national or regional contexts through facilitated comparative frameworks that illuminate convergences, divergences, and contextually specific challenges.

The objective of the workshop is to systematically develop international research networks, build research connections, and support participants to critically position their work within broader VET research conversations across Australasia and beyond.

The workshop will be highly interactive and discussion-based. Participants are expected to prepare a brief (3-5 minute) contextual overview of VET in their jurisdiction, addressing: (a) primary policy drivers, (b) dominant research paradigms, (c) current challenges, and (d) emerging innovations. Participants should also be prepared to share current research themes, policy challenges, or emerging issues from their own contexts.