Prospective Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Developing Vocational Attitude Maturity among Secondary School Students

Against the backdrop of accelerating demands for employability, skill development, and the vocationalisation of education, this study examines the vocational attitude maturity (VAM) of prospective teachers and its variation across gender and academic disciplines. Grounded in a descriptive survey design within a quantitative framework, data were collected from 118 secondary-level prospective teachers in Lucknow District using a standardised Vocational Attitude Maturity scale. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, cross-tabulation, and Games–Howell post hoc tests were employed for analysis. Results indicate a predominant low level of VAM (78%), with a modest proportion at moderate (18.6%) and minimal representation at high levels (3.4%). The overall mean score (M = 27.45) reflects a low to moderate attitudinal disposition. While ANOVA revealed no statistically significant differences across disciplines (F = 1.386, p > .05), distributional patterns and post hoc analysis identified significant mean differences between Language and both Social Science (p = .002) and Science (p = .009), signalling comparatively lower VAM among Language students. Gender-wise trends further suggest greater concentration of males in the low category, whereas females show relatively higher representation at the moderate level. The findings expose a systemic gap in attitudinal preparedness within teacher education, underscoring the urgency of embedding competency-based, work-integrated, and experiential pedagogies. Strengthening vocational orientation in pre-service training is imperative for aligning teacher preparation with national policy imperatives and global workforce expectations.