Generative AI integration in Australian VET: regulatory constraints and newly qualified trainers

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly used in Australian vocational education and training (VET), where training and assessment materials must align with nationally specified units of competency, evidence requirements and assessment conditions. This exploratory multiple case study examined how five newly qualified VET trainers in Victoria used GenAI to prepare, adapt and check such materials. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed using two-cycle thematic coding. Participants regarded GenAI outputs as plausible but not ready for use until checked against vocational knowledge and qualification and unit requirements. This checking was shaped by unclear regulatory expectations, limited or restrictive institutional guidance and unequal access to GenAI tools. The study identifies GenAI integration in VET as a compliance-verification challenge. It also clarifies the role of Contextual Knowledge in the Extended Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework, showing that regulatory, institutional and tool-access conditions shape trainers’ ability to justify GenAI use in high-compliance settings.