Mediation Techniques in Secondary Education Should Take into Account Gender Differences - Evidence from Secondary Schools in Catalonia

Oct 15, 2026

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Mediation in secondary schools is promoted to improve conflict resolution and school climate, strengthening students’ perception of school life and supporting academic outcomes. The study examines how students in five secondary schools in Barcelona and its outskirts feel about and react to mediation training. Responses from 367 students are analyzed for statistically significant gender differences in perceived usefulness and effectiveness. Results indicate girls report higher averages regarding mediation being explained, adopted, and more beneficial than boys.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Mediation and school conflict resolution

Bullying impacts and resilience concerns

Peer mediation and gender differences

Research aim and focus

Mediation Techniques in Secondary Education should take into Account Gender Differences for Enhanced Effectiveness: Evidence from Secondary Schools in Catalonia By Juan Pedro Aznar Alarcón 􀀍 Lisandro Castillo† Teresa Duplá Marín + International institutions and national and regional governments are promoting a culture that includes the use of mediation in secondary schools. The literature review and the previous empirical research suggest that the introduction of mediation as an alternative methodfor conflict resolution helps improve school climate, thus improving the students’ perception of school life and helping achieve better academic results. Furthermore, it contributes to the development of certain skills, such as a spirit of teamwork, empathy and better communication that would be very useful in their adult lives. However, in order to design efficient mediation systems, we must first understand how students feel about and react to mediation training. This research has been conducted in five different secondary schools in the city of Barcelona and its outskirts. A total of 367 students responded to a survey on school climate and their feelings about mediation. The focus of the analysis was to find statistically significant differences according to gender regarding how efficient and useful students consider mediation to be as an alternative means of conflict resolution. Girls give higher average values when asked whether mediation has been explained and used, and they find it more useful than their male peers. Keywords: conflict management, peer mediation, school climate, gender differences, bullying, secondary schools. Introduction Continuous violence (bullying) at school has been identified as a predictor of later criminality (Olweus, 2012), and at the same time, the increased resilience to violent radicalization through early schooling has become a main concern in Europe. In a cross-national study, Ortega et al. (2012) analyzed the psychological impact of bullying and cyber-bullying on students. One of the conclusions is 􀀍Associate Professor, Economics, Business and Accounting Department, ESADE Business and Law School, Universitat Ramon Llull, Member of the Management Conflict Group at ESADE Law School, Spain. †Research Assistant, ESADE Business and Law School. Universitat Ramon Llull, Member of the Management Conflict Group at ESADE Law School, Spain. +Full Professor, ESADE Law Department, ESADE Business and Law School, Universitat Ramon Lllull, Director of the Management Conflict Group at ESADE Law School , Spain. [https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.5-3-2](https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.5-3-2) doi=10.30958/aje.5-3-2 that the negative effects can clearly be long term in nature. Academic and psychosocial problems, the lack of self-esteem, depression and externalized hostility are among the consequences of bullying among victims. Some systematic efforts to remedy this issue have been made in several European countries, such asthe systematic assessment of conflict at school designed by the Regional Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2001; 2006; 2012), in Spain. It has been observed that since peer mediation was promoted in the school system as a preferential way to solve conflicts among students, an internal change of the conflict structure has begun. This change consists in that the average number of bullying incidents at school remains globally stable, but the amount of bullying among boys and girls is changing in a similar proportion over time (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2012; Gómez & Álvarez-González, 2015; Wearmouth, Mckinney, & Glynn, 2007). Could this change be due to a different way in which boys and girls relate to the peer mediation techniques? Turnuklu et al. (2010) and Garaigodobil and Martínez-Valderrey (2015) have reported experiences with this phenomenon. They both applied the same experimental method to separate samples of boys and girls in Turkey and Spain. The results show

FAQs

Why does the study focus on mediation in secondary schools?

Because mediation is promoted as an alternative conflict-resolution method that can improve school climate, students’ perception of school life, and academic results while developing teamwork, empathy, and communication skills.

How was the research conducted?

The study surveyed 367 students from five secondary schools in Barcelona and nearby areas, measuring school climate and students’ feelings about mediation.

What gender differences were found in students’ views of mediation?

Girls reported higher average values on whether mediation had been explained and used, and they considered it more useful for conflict resolution than their male peers.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Mimi