This article examines the strategic behaviour of the Chinese-Spanish public services interpreter-mediator in the socio-educational setting when faced with various types of problems (lexical, cultural, pragmatic, arising from the management of the conversation, and ethical and professional issues). The data were obtained from fifteen filmed simulations which recreated situations that frequently arise in interpreting in the socio-educational field. The data were supplemented by an initial questionnaire and a retrospective interview for the five participants in the study. The descriptive analysis shows an initial classification of the strategic resources used by the interpreters. Faced with an outstanding use of active mediation strategies and a less frequent use of interpreting techniques, the author argues that it is important to define the difference between intercultural mediation and interpreting in contexts such as this one, to ensure the parties’ transparency and autonomy. Moreover, she highlights the importance of consciously training future interpreters on the importance of taking strategic decisions when problem-solving.