Effect of attitudinal and professional transformation during industrial attachment on holistic TVET certificate graduates in Kampala Metropolitan, Uganda

Abstract

Attitudinal and professional transformation, including work ethic, professional identity, career goal clarity, self-confidence, responsibility, accountability, respect for authority, and employment transition readiness, represents a critical but under-researched outcome of industrial attachment in TVET. This study examined the effect of attitudinal and professional transformation during industrial attachment on holistic TVET certificate graduates in Kampala Metropolitan, Uganda. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was employed, collecting quantitative data from 375 graduates and qualitative data from 10 key informants. Thefindings revealed that industrial attachment significantly improved work ethic, professional identity, career goal clarity, self-confidence, responsibility, accountability, respect for authority, and employment transition readiness. Responsibility and accountability showed the highest consistency, while employment transition readiness showed the strongest agreement. Correlation analysis revealed a strong positive relationship between attitudinal transformation and holistic graduate outcomes (r=0.715, p<0.001), with regression analysis showing that attitudinal transformation explains 51.1% of the variance in holistic graduate outcomes (R²=0.511), the highest explanatory power among all predictors. Qualitative findings confirmed that work ethic improves through exposure to real workplace expectations, professional identity develops as trainees adopt professional titles, and employment transition readiness makes trainees eager to seek work immediately after attachment. The study concludes that industrial attachment is a powerful mechanism for attitudinal and professional transformation. It recommends establishing professional identity development programmes, implementing a national Career Pathway Framework, and developing individual accountability assessment standards.