Legally Grounded Ethical Practices and Conflict Management Strategies: Developing a Capacity-Building Program for School Leaders
Wei Jingting
School: Emilio Aguinaldo College, Manila, Philippines
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54476/ioer-imrj/877619
ABSTRACT
This study examined the legally grounded ethical practices and conflict management strategies of school leaders as assessed by teacher-respondents across diverse academic units and employment profiles. Anchored on the premise that ethical leadership plays a crucial role in fostering professional conduct and harmonious school environments, the research explored dimensions such as professional identity development, inclusive policy implementation, legal literacy, and the integration of ethics in emerging and creative fields. Conflict management strategies were evaluated in terms of emotional literacy, mindfulness, peace education, negotiation, deliberation, and leadership capacity-building. Using quantitative descriptive and inferential methods, data were gathered from a diverse group of teachers categorized by length of service, employment status, and school affiliation. The findings revealed that school leaders were generally perceived to practice legally grounded ethics and conflict management strategies at commendable levels. Notably, emotional literacy and peace education ranked highest among conflict strategies, while negotiation for productivity and capacity-building showed lower ratings. There were no significant differences in the respondents’ assessments across demographic profiles, indicating uniform leadership behavior. Significant positive correlations were identified between specific ethical practices—such as interdisciplinary legal integration and contextual legal literacy—and conflict resolution strategies, particularly in the domains of dialogue-based deliberation and leadership development. These results underscore the importance of embedding legally grounded ethical principles into leadership development programs to enhance school leaders’ capacity to manage conflicts constructively and equitably. The study concludes with the recommendation to institutionalize structured capacity-building initiatives, emphasizing legal ethics education and adaptive conflict resolution strategies tailored to contextual needs. This is vital to cultivating reflective, inclusive, and legally compliant leadership in contemporary educational settings.
Keywords. Capacity Building, Conflict Management, Leadership Capacity Building, Legally-grounded Ethical Practices