Teachers’ Work and Family Life: Impacts and the Need for Balance
Joshua Jay O. Eden
Discipline: Education
Abstract:
This study investigates the impact of teacher-related work factors on their work-life balance, aiming to provide insights for more targeted policies and interventions that enhance well-being and job satisfaction. Specifically, it aims to determine how various work demands impact teachers' family lives, identify key challenges, and propose strategies for achieving balance. Using stratified random sampling, 150 teacher-respondents from four schools participated in a structured survey. Data were analyzed using frequency distributions, weighted means, and Pearson correlations. Results show that teacher-related tasks have a moderate impact on family life, with workload, professional development, community involvement, and special assignments contributing to role conflict and stress. Despite DepEd policies regulating workloads, the respondents still face work-life imbalance, highlighting the need for stronger institutional support and policy improvements. Moreover, this revealed that excessive workloads, extended work hours, urgent report deadlines, financial burdens, special assignments, and professional development demands are key challenges disrupting teachers' work-life balance, exacerbating role conflict, stress, and family disengagement, underscoring the need for flexible policies and institutional support. To cope with these concerns, teachers strategize the conduct of effective planning, time management, setting work-life boundaries, seeking family and institutional support, and maintaining a positive outlook to reduce stress, enhance personal time, and maintain work-life balance, emphasizing the importance of flexible policies and organizational support. Overall, this study concludes that while teachers face moderate challenges in balancing work and family responsibilities, they demonstrate resilience through adaptive strategies, underscoring the need for structured support systems and long-term initiatives to promote work-family balance and enhance well-being, job satisfaction, and educational outcomes.
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