Social–Emotional Competence Across Arab Educational Subsystems in Israel: A Comparative Analysis of Sector, Gender and SES

Social–emotional competence (SEC) is an important factor contributing to students’ academic success and psychological well-being. While research on SEC is widespread, studies within the unique demographic and ethnic context of the Arab minority in Israel remain scarce. This study examined SEC levels across three distinct educational subsystems (General Arab, Druze, and Bedouin), alongside gender and socioeconomic status (SES). A sample of 852 fifth- and sixth-grade students was recruited from 15 elementary schools in northern Israel. SEC was evaluated using an adapted 40-item self-report online questionnaire split into emotional and social subscales. A 3 × 2 factorial ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of the educational subsystem, with post hoc pairwise comparisons showing that Druze students scored significantly higher than both General Arab and Bedouin students. Intriguingly, independent t-tests revealed no significant differences in SEC based on gender, grade level or SES. These results suggest that cultural–ethnic background and distinct institutional contexts serve as the primary sources of variance in SEC in this cohort. However, given the regional scope and cross-sectional design of the study, these findings should be interpreted with caution. Key explanatory mechanisms, such as intergroup contact and communal belonging, were not directly measured and remain theoretical interpretations. Overall, the results highlight the need to move away from “one-size-fits-all” approaches in favor of culturally sensitive, localized interventions