Social-emotional competencies (SEC) play a vital role in students' academic and social achievements. Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are designed to equip students with these competencies to manage their daily stress and cope with academic and social challenges. Recently, published research studies have emphasized the significant impact of implementing systemic social and emotional learning (SEL) programs universally from kindergarten to 12th grade, involving all adults surrounding students, including families, schools, and communities. This approach could notably enhance students' competency development and yield a long-lasting positive effect on their social and academic performance. SEL scholars are now advocating for the implementation of transformative social and emotional learning (T-SEL) throughout the entire education system and universally across all school levels to achieve sustainable outcomes. Few U.S. education districts are now moving towards building sustainable T-SEL systems. This study focuses on the Qatari context, where there is an ongoing discourse on SEL among educational stakeholders despite its absence from the recent governmental school system reform initiatives. Whereas some international baccalaureate (IB) schools integrated similar SEL into their programs. The rationale of this study was to fill the knowledge gap and explore the status of SEL in public and IB schools. The principal aim was to capture the teachers' evaluation of their students' social and emotional competencies and explore the teachers' understanding of SEL in general. The study adopted an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach, collecting data through (a) quantitative assessment of students (N=281) using the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment-Mini (DESSA-Mini) completed by teachers and clarifying the findings through (b) qualitative semi-structured interviews with the same subset of teachers (N=12). The results indicated no significant difference in SEC scores between public school students who are not exposed to SEL and those attending international baccalaureate (IB) schools with similar class-based SEL programs. Additionally, the study identified various factors affecting students' SEC, including family involvement, teacher roles, school systems, and social silos, which are absent from the student social-ecological cycle. As educational stakeholders in Qatar strive to reform the education system, this study recommends, instead of introducing class-based SEL, exploring the feasibility of implementing T-SEL to include schools, families, and the community, thereby addressing the missing elements that contribute to students' healthy development. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]