SCHOOL HEAD’S SOCIO-EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE AND MEDIATING SKILLS: BASIS FOR A COMPREHENSIVE MEDIATION PROGRAM
Keywords:
socio-emotional competence, mediation skills, school heads, conflict resolution, educational leadership, mixed-methods researchAbstract
School heads are frequently called upon to resolve interpersonal, administrative, and community disputes, yet little empirical work has examined whether their socio-emotional competence translates into stronger mediation practice. This study determined the level of socio-emotional competence and mediation skills of 262 public school heads in the SOCSARGEN divisions (General Santos City, South Cotabato, and Sarangani) of the Philippines and tested the relationship between the two variables. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was used: quantitative data were gathered through a validated five-point Likert survey administered to a stratified random sample of 262 school heads, and qualitative data were gathered through a focus group discussion with 10 purposively selected participants. Results showed that school heads possess a very high overall level of socio-emotional competence (M = 4.51, SD = 0.58), with the strongest domain being responsible decision-making (M = 4.68) and the weakest being social awareness (M = 4.27). Mediation skills were rated high overall (M = 4.47, SD = 0.60), led by reconstructing and understanding conflict (M = 4.56) and trailing in defining points of agreement and dispute (M = 4.39). A Spearman rank-order correlation revealed a negligible and statistically non-significant relationship between socio-emotional competence and mediation skills (rₛ = 0.045, p = 0.465), indicating that the two competencies, while both high, do not covary in this sample. Thematic analysis of the focus group data showed that school heads manage their socio-emotional competence through emotional awareness and self-control, relationship building, and continuing professional development, and that they exercise mediation through structured, procedural approaches emphasizing neutrality, open communication, and formalized agreements. The findings suggest that socio-emotional competence and mediation skills should be cultivated as distinct, complementary competencies rather than assumed to develop together, and they inform the design of a proposed Comprehensive Mediation Program for school heads.
References
Alladatin, J., Fonton, A., & Mehou, J. (2022). Social and Emotional Competence of School Leaders: A Scoping Review. ISPEC International Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 6(1), 27–34.
Ansell, C., & Gash, A. (2012). Stewards, mediators, and catalysts: Toward a model of collaborative leadership. The Innovation Journal, 17(1), 1–21.
Armstrong, F., & Ainscow, M. (2018). School heads and the implementation of negotiated agreements. In Inclusive education (pp. 112–130). Routledge.
Borowski, T. (2019). CASEL's SEL framework: What are the core competence areas and where are they promoted? Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.
Brauckmann, S., Pashiardis, P., & Ärlestig, H. (2023). Bringing context and educational leadership together: Fostering the professional development of school principals. Professional Development in Education, 49(1), 4–15.
Collie, R. J., & Perry, N. E. (2019). Cultivating teacher thriving through social–emotional competence and its development. The Australian Educational Researcher, 46(4), 699–714.
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Steps in conducting a scholarly mixed methods study.
de Queiroz, K. (2020). An updated concept of subspecies resolves a dispute about the taxonomy of incompletely separated lineages. Herpetological Review.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2012). Self-determination theory. In Handbook of theories of social psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 416–436). Sage.
Domitrovich, C. E., Durlak, J. A., Staley, K. C., & Weissberg, R. P. (2018). Social-emotional competence: An essential factor for promoting positive adjustment and reducing risk in school children. Child Development, 88(2), 408–416.
Eklund, K., Kilpatrick, K. D., Kilgus, S. P., & Haider, A. (2018). A systematic review of state-level social-emotional learning standards: Implications for practice and research. School Psychology Review, 47(3), 316–326.
Gilar-Corbí, R., Pozo-Rico, T., Sánchez, B., & Castejón, J. L. (2018). Can emotional competence be taught in higher education? A randomized experimental study of an emotional intelligence training program using a multimethodological approach. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1039.
Goldberg, S. B., Sander, F. E., Rogers, N. H., & Cole, S. R. (2020). Dispute resolution: Negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and other processes. Aspen Publishing.
Honig, M. I., & Hatch, T. C. (2004). Crafting coherence: How schools strategically manage multiple, external demands. Educational Researcher, 33(8), 16–30.
Humphrey, N., Barlow, A., & Lendrum, A. (2020). Social awareness and school leadership. In Handbook of Social and Emotional Learning. Guilford Press.
Ingersoll, R. M., Merrill, L., & Stuckey, D. (2018). Seven trends: The transformation of the teaching force. CPRE Report.
Jennings, P. A., Doyle, S., Oh, Y., Rasheed, D., Frank, J. L., & Brown, J. L. (2020). Long-term impacts of the CARE program on teachers' self-reported social and emotional competence and well-being. Journal of School Psychology, 76, 186–202.
Johnson, S. M., Kraft, M. A., & Papay, J. P. (2015). How context matters in high-need schools: The effects of teachers' working conditions on their professional satisfaction and their students' achievement. Teachers College Record, 117(4).
Kala, S. (2020). Mediation: A study of conflict resolution. Journal of Legal Studies.
Kim, S., & Shin, J. (2021). Social-emotional competence and school leadership: A conceptual review. Educational Management Administration & Leadership.
Kohansal, R. (2015). The mediating role of the school principal in policy implementation. International Journal of Educational Management.
Koyama, J. (2014). Principals, power, and policy: Enacting ‘supplemental educational services.’ Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 45(4), 371–388.
Lane, R. D., & Smith, R. (2021). Levels of emotional awareness: Theory and measurement of a socio-emotional skill. Journal of Intelligence, 9(3), 42.
Leonov, N. I., & Glavatskikh, M. M. (2017). Mediation styles and conflict resolution strategies. Psychology in Russia: State of the Art.
Li, Z., Yu, C., & Wang, L. (2023). Educational leadership effectiveness: The role of socio-emotional competence and beyond. Educational Studies.
Lozano-Pena, G., Saez-Delgado, F., Lopez-Angulo, Y., & Mella-Norambuena, J. (2021). Teachers' social–emotional competence: History, concept, models, instruments, and recommendations for educational quality. Sustainability, 13(21), 12142.
Mahfouz, J., & Gordon, D. (2021). Social and emotional competencies of educational leaders. Journal of Educational Administration.
Mahfouz, J., Greenberg, M. T., & Rodriguez, A. (2019). Principals' social and emotional competence: A key factor for creating supportive schools. Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, Pennsylvania State University.
Md-Nawi, N., Ismail, F., & Jantan, M. (2017). Self-management and leadership effectiveness among school heads. International Journal of Educational Management.
Menkel-Meadow, C., Love, L. P., & Schneider, A. K. (2020). Dispute resolution: Beyond the adversarial model. Aspen Publishing.
Piccardo, E., & North, B. (2019). The action-oriented approach: A dynamic vision of language education. Multilingual Matters.
Pretorius, A., & Plaatjies, B. (2023). Self-awareness as a key emotional intelligent skill for secondary school principals' leadership toolkit. Research in Educational Policy and Management, 5(2), 52–74.
Rubab, U. E., Parveen, N., Jafari, S. M., & Yousuf, M. I. (2024). Social and emotional self-awareness skills among students: A case study. Qlantic Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 5(1), 336–343.
Rutledge, S. A., Harris, D. N., Thompson, C. T., & Ingle, W. K. (2010). Certify, blame, or spread the risk? Principal responses to teacher policy initiatives. Educational Administration Quarterly, 46(5), 645–680.
Salminen, J. (2018). Transformative mediation and organizational conflict. Negotiation Journal.
Su, Z., Adams, J., & Mininberg, E. (2014). Bridging and buffering in school-community relations. Journal of Educational Administration.
Valente, S., & Lourenco, A. A. (2020, February). Conflict in the classroom: How teachers' emotional intelligence influences conflict management. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 5, p. 5). Frontiers Media SA.
Wallensteen, P. (2015). Understanding conflict resolution. Sage.
Wang, S., & Zhang, D. (2020). The impact of time while boarding on students' academic achievement and social emotional competence: A propensity score matching analysis. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 65, 100851.
Yusuf, K. M., Sulaiman, A. M., & Hutagalung, F. (2020). Relationship with the community and social–emotional competence of youth in Sarawak, Malaysia. In The Social Sciences Empowered (pp. 117–120). CRC Press.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Journal for the Advancement of Sustainable Development Goals
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
License Statement
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)
All articles published in the Journal for the Advancement of Sustainable Development Goals (JASDG) are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Under this license, users are free to:
-
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format;
-
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, including commercial use;
provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and the source, a link to the license is provided, and any changes made are indicated.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as the license terms are followed.
Authors retain copyright of their work while granting JASDG the right of first publication. The published work remains freely available to readers and may be used, distributed, reproduced, and adapted by others in accordance with the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
For more information about this license, please visit:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright Notice
Copyright © 2026 The Author(s).
Articles published in the Journal for the Advancement of Sustainable Development Goals (JASDG) are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction, and adaptation in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited.
