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WORKLOAD, WORK LIFE BALANCE (Independent V.)

AND THE QUALITY OF LIFE (Dependent V.)
OF SCHOOL HEADS

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Everyone in the world is involved in work in one way or another, and work is an

integral part of people's value system. The world of work is changing, becoming more

global and more technologically advanced (Mokanu, 2016).

UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO, WB

Workers worldwide of about 25 to 40 percent have jobs with emotional

demands, such as tight deadlines and high-speed work, which are experienced by

between one-third of workers in Europe and a half in the United States, Turkey, El

Salvador, and Uruguay (Joint ILO–Eurofound Report, 2019). In Europe and Denmark,

age-related differences in work motives and intellectual ability may lead to differences in

experienced workload, and the employees experience work features (Bos, Donders, &

van der Gulden, 2012). However, in Dublin, Ireland, an e-expanding workload is turning

teachers off becoming principals (O' Brien, 2020). The United States suggests that the

school principal's job has expanded and become "overloaded" during the past decades

(Conversation, 2015). In Ontario, Canada, the majority of principals (91.8%) and vice-

principals (83.4%) believe their job makes a meaningful difference in their school

community, and they overwhelmingly find their school an excellent place to work

(EDCAN Network, 2019).

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In the Asia Pacific, Australia, school principals' quantity of work and the lack of

time to focus on teaching and learning were the two most significant sources of

principals' stress, even during the holidays period; 40 percent of principals worked

more than 25 hours per week (Vukovic, 2019). Mongolia and Uzbekistan have specific

training to build school leader capacity while in Sri Lanka, principals cannot provide

leadership support, specifically in terms of developing teaching skills. However, in

Cambodia and Pakistan, there is system-wide training for school leaders. Likewise, in

Korea, there is insufficient ongoing training in school management for principals. A

leadership and management training program was initiated in 2012 for principals to attain

the necessary skills and qualifications, in Samoa. (UNESCO 2015)

The Department of Education (2017) analysis of the collected data revealed that

30% of school head time is spent on leading teaching and learning; 9% on developing

self and others; 6% on leading improvement, innovation, and change; 40% on leading the

management of the school; 11% on engaging and working with the community; and, 3%

on other activities. As such, school heads are spending more time leading the school's

management than leading teaching and learning. Grappling with longer hours, increasing

demands, and higher workloads than ever before, threatening school heads’ recruitment,

retention, and job performance (EDCAN.Network, 2019).

Cruz et al. (2016) describe the school head's performance at a very satisfactory

level in managerial functions in many educational leadership areas. In comparison with

other ASEAN nations, forty-one (41) percent of Filipino professionals feel "content" with

the balance of their personal and professional lives, significantly higher than employees
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in Singapore and Malaysia, where just 24 percent and 32 percent, respectively, reported

feeling the same way (SunStar, 2019).

According to Nepali (2018), that work is likely to invade personal life. A more

complex task is equivalent to the increased workload (Lim & Pollock, 2019). A workload

is different yet related constructs such as job demands and job overload. However, a

workload results from mental processes when performing tasks, depending on the

worker's capabilities and the work demands. When employees have an excessive

workload or difficult tasks beyond their skills and abilities, this can serve as a stressor

(Oah, Na & Moon, 2018).

On the other hand, worklife balance emphasizes the work and family domain

recreation (Aswalam et al., 2019). Balance is an essential requirement to have an

enjoyable, successful, and stress-free life (Marmol, 2019). Most people face the

challenges of balancing work and family. The growing concern that the quality of the

home and work life is deteriorating (Aswalam et al., 2019) due to work intensification

that increases the volume and complexity of the daily tasks (Lim, & Pollock, 2019) that

resulted in low employee input and performance at home and work (Aswalam et al.,

2019). A low work-life balance predominantly is due to stressful work and long working

hours, resulting in tiredness after work and inadequate time for family and recreation

(Aswalam et al., 2019). Maintaining work-life balance is no simple task requires some

maneuvering and practice (Nepali, 2018).

Quality of life is known as subjective well-being (Malkina-Pykh & Pykh, 2018)

that comprises the physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and general health of an

individual (Chakrabarty et al., 2019). Education, wealth, and type of house are the main
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determinants of quality of life (Chauhana, Jungari, & Dhar, 2019). In employee quality

of life, including the quality of their work environment, the recognition they receive, and

their ability to grow and learn at work. . Also, quality of life is a relationship between the

quality of the resources available and the individual satisfaction acquired from the

sources (Demirdağ, 2017).

The workload and values proved to be the most critical areas of work-life (Brom,

Buruck, Horváth, Richter & Leiter, 2015) to organizations that focus on ensuring the best

possible quality of work, well-being, and effectiveness (Desselle, 2016 & Afroz, 2018).

In the Philippines, nearly two thirds (65 percent) of working professionals are

generally satisfied with their current work-life balance. Developing a perfect balance

between personal life and professional life must be based on addressing a real situation.

There is total balance only when the individual feels that she has fulfilled all of her roles

satisfactorily (Mercado, 2019).

Consistent with Philippine national educational policies, plans, and standards, the

school heads have the authority, accountability, and responsibility, such as setting the

mission, vision, goals, and objectives, implement the school curriculum, develop school

improvement plans, and establishing the school and community networks. There is an

equally great school principal behind every teacher in any school coordinating and

managing students' and staff members' activities. A school principal's work combines

elements of teaching with some administrative tasks (Neuvoo, 2017).

In Zamboanga del Sur Division, school heads' work becomes more complex and

technologically advanced. As observed, there are weekdays which are consumed for

work in school to catch up with the deadlines of work reports. Some Saturdays and
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Sundays are not with the families but with co-employees attending in trainings and

seminars. The attendance of seminars happened one after the other schedule as to

achieve quality education and challenge to assist how teachers teach learners.

Obviously, school heads’ administrative and supervisory functions' workload increases

affecting their life balance and quality of life as a person and as a professional.

In this scenario, it is imperative to measure the administrative and supervisory

work, the work-life balance, and the school heads' quality of life. Much more on the

impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to a person's mental health and psychosocial well-

being. In fact, no studies and research done in the locality that focused on the

workload, worklife balance and quality of life of school heads which are important

factors that the researcher wants to investigate in the first Congressional District of

Zamboanga del Sur Division.