In the contemporary educational landscape, public school teachers play a pivotal role in shaping students’ intellectual and personal development (Elbertson et al., 2025; da Silva Pinho et al., 2025). Beyond imparting academic knowledge, teachers cultivate essential skills, values, and behaviors necessary for holistic growth. However, their responsibilities extend far beyond classroom instruction, encompassing tasks such as lesson planning, assessment, and student support. Increasingly, teachers are also required to assume ancillary roles, including department heads, curriculum coordinators, coaches, and guidance advocates, which further intensify their workload and professional demands (Marmol, 2019; Sarabia & Collantes, 2020).
In the Philippines, the Department of Education (DepEd) acknowledges the heavy workload borne by teachers, which is often associated with heightened stress and burnout. The Magna Carta for Public School Teachers (Republic Act 4670) mandates a maximum of six hours of daily classroom teaching. Despite this provision, many teachers exceed the prescribed workload due to additional ancillary responsibilities (Algar et al., 2025). The remaining hours are allocated for ancillary duties, including advisorships and special assignments. These responsibilities, such as serving as grade-level coordinators, class advisers, school paper advisers, and property custodians, are considered part of the teacher’s overall workload. This imbalance raises critical concerns regarding the sustainability of teachers’ mental health and overall well-being as they manage increasingly complex professional roles (Alegado, 2018; David et al., 2019).
While additional ancillary roles may contribute to school effectiveness and leadership development, they may also exacerbate workload pressures and diminish work–life balance if not properly managed. Understanding this dynamic is crucial in informing policies and institutional practices that support teachers to ensure that expanded responsibilities do not come at the expense of their health, job satisfaction, and instructional effectiveness.
