Pedagogical Social Competence and Moral Message Delivery: An Exegetical-Inspired Study of Exodus 8:19 in the Context of SD Negeri 095239 Silau Puluk

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between pedagogical social competence and moral message delivery in Christian Religious Education at SD Negeri 095239 Silau Puluk. Inspired by an exegetical reflection on Book of Exodus 8:19 -“This is the finger of God” the research conceptualizes moral recognition as emerging through lived encounter rather than mere verbal proclamation. Within this framework, pedagogical social competence is understood as the teacher’s ability to communicate empathetically, model ethical integrity, demonstrate relational sensitivity, and engage students interactively in moral learning processes. The study employed a quantitative correlational design using saturated sampling, involving all 90 Christian students enrolled at the school. Data were collected through validated Likert-scale questionnaires measuring four dimensions of pedagogical social competence (empathetic communication, relational sensitivity, ethical modeling, and interactive engagement) and four indicators of moral message delivery effectiveness (clarity, relevance, moral reflection, and behavioral intention). Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation, and simple linear regression. The findings revealed a strong and statistically significant positive correlation between pedagogical social competence and moral message delivery (r = 0.76, p < 0.001). Regression analysis showed that pedagogical social competence significantly predicted moral message delivery, accounting for 57.8% of the variance (R² = 0.578). The results indicate that in primary Christian education, moral instruction is profoundly relational. Moral messages become transformative when embodied through socially competent interaction. The study contributes empirically to the discourse on Christian pedagogy by demonstrating that social competence is a decisive professional capacity in fostering effective moral formation among elementary students.