Master of Arts in Education Major in MAPEH
Vol. 1 No. 6, October - December 2025 · pages 223–230
MAPEH teachers in public secondary schools frequently assume dual responsibilities as classroom instructors and school sports coaches, creating competing professional demands that may intensify workload pressures and disrupt work-life balance. This study examined the challenges experienced by MAPEH teacher-coaches and compared their work-life balance outcomes with those of non-coaching MAPEH teachers. Using a quantitative, descriptive-comparative, and correlational design, data were collected from 500 MAPEH teachers using a structured survey questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were applied to identify the most salient challenge domains, while Pearson correlation was used to examine the relationship between weekly teaching hours and coaching hours. An independent-samples t-test was used to determine whether work-life balance differed significantly between the dual-role and non-coaching groups. Results indicated that workload (M = 4.08) and time management (M = 4.05) were the most prominent challenges among teacher-coaches, while perceived school support was comparatively lower (M = 3.02). Teacher-coaches reported comparable time commitments for teaching (22.58 hours/week) and coaching (21.23 hours/week). Correlation analysis showed no significant relationship between teaching and coaching hours (r = +0.117, p = 0.215), suggesting that coaching duties function as an additive workload rather than displacing instructional time. Work-life balance outcomes differed significantly between groups, with teacher-coaches reporting substantially poorer balance than non-coaching teachers (t = −19.14, p < 0.001). The findings demonstrate that the teacher-coach dual-role arrangement is associated with role overload and boundary erosion, highlighting the need for workload credit systems, scheduling protections, and institutional support mechanisms to sustain teacher well-being and instructional quality in MAPEH.
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In many public secondary schools, the responsibilities assigned to teachers extend well beyond classroom instruction. This is particularly evident for educators in Music, Arts, Physical Education, and Health (MAPEH), whose professional roles frequently include not only delivering a multidisciplinary academic curriculum but also managing school athletic programs as coaches. In practice, this creates an institutionalized "teacher-coach" dual-role arrangement where a single educator is expected to meet two distinct sets of performance standards: those of an academic teacher and those of a competitive sports coach. In the Philippine context, where extracurricular sports are often closely tied to school pride, public recognition, and community identity, the expectation that a MAPEH teacher will also serve as a coach is typically treated as a norm rather than an optional assignment.
This structural reality places MAPEH teacher-coaches at the intersection of two demanding professional domains-formal teaching and athletic performance development-each requiring substantial time, cognitive effort, and emotional energy. The teacher-coach dual role is not simply an issue of having more tasks. It is a fundamental professional tension rooted in incompatible expectations. Teaching requires equitable attention to all learners, adherence to curriculum standards across multiple disciplines, and continuous assessment and instructional preparation. Coaching, by contrast, demands selective focus on student-athletes, extended practice sessions outside regular school hours, competition planning, travel commitments, and performance outcomes that are highly visible to school administrators and the local community.
When these two streams of obligation collide-such as when practice schedules intrude into lesson preparation time or competitions overlap with instructional responsibilities-teachers experience role strain and psychological stress resulting from conflicting job demands. This condition reflects the essence of role conflict and role strain, which occur when individuals occupy multiple roles with competing expectations that cannot be simultaneously satisfied without compromise (EBSCO Research Starters, n.d.-a). In teacher-coach settings, conflict is often intensified because coaching success is evaluated publicly through wins and tournament outcomes.
At the same time, classroom instructional quality is less immediately visible, thereby shifting incentives toward athletic performance. In some cases, this results in role retreatism, where the teacher-coach prioritizes coaching obligations because they are more externally rewarded or scrutinized. Workload expansion is among the most measurable consequences of this dual-role model. Teacher-coaches frequently report extended workweeks that exceed conventional professional hours, driven by lesson planning, student assessment, practice sessions, game-day responsibilities, and athletic program administration. These extended work schedules lead to chronic fatigue and emotional exhaustion, particularly during peak sports seasons.
Such workload conditions are widely identified in burnout research as key antecedents of emotional exhaustion and reduced professional well-being. A notable study on teacher burnout found that both teaching-related and non-teaching-related workload were significantly associated with emotional exhaustion, highlighting that excessive workload is not only a logistical burden but also a psychological risk factor (Van Droogenbroeck et al., 2014). For teacher-coaches, the workload issue becomes more complex because professional demands are not merely additive in terms of hours; they also require rapid role-switching between cognitive modes-e.g., shifting from designing academic assessments in the morning to strategizing for athletic competitions in the afternoon.
This constant switching amplifies stress and contributes to cumulative depletion. A second major concern is the erosion of work-life balance. In the teaching profession, work-life imbalance occurs when occupational responsibilities expand beyond the temporal and psychological boundaries that typically protect personal and family time. Work-life boundary theory explains that individuals manage the boundary between work and non-work domains through strategies ranging from integration (high permeability) to segmentation (strong separation). When boundaries become permeable-such as when evening practices, weekend competitions, and online communication extend work into personal time-work-life conflict increases, often leading to emotional distress and dissatisfaction.
Contemporary boundary theory research emphasizes that how individuals enact boundaries substantially shapes their ability to maintain sustainable work routines, particularly in high-demand occupations (Desrochers & Morgan, 2021). In teacher-coach contexts, boundary permeability is structurally high because sports programs require after-hours engagement, making segmentation difficult without institutional support. This is consistent with the broader work-life boundary theory literature, which explains that employees frequently move between domains and that their well-being depends on how manageable and controllable those boundaries are (Clark, 2000).
Beyond the personal health implications, the dual-role model has potential consequences for educational quality. MAPEH is uniquely challenging because it includes four distinct academic components-Music, Arts, Physical Education, and Health-each requiring specialized content preparation and differentiated instructional design. When coaching schedules dominate an educator's available planning time, classroom instruction may become reactive or simplified, particularly in content-heavy areas such as music theory or health sciences. Prior research on teacher-coach workload suggests that time scarcity can result in reduced lesson preparation quality and diminished instructional innovation.
This is particularly problematic because MAPEH is intended to provide holistic development for all students, not only athletes. If teaching quality declines due to coaching demands, non-athlete learners may experience reduced access to engaging, well-prepared instruction, thereby raising equity concerns. Institutional and community structures also play a significant role in sustaining the dual-role tension. Athletic success can function as a public-relations asset for schools, which may unintentionally create an incentive system that rewards coaching outcomes more strongly than instructional performance. When administrators provide unclear job descriptions, insufficient compensation, or limited logistical support for coaching responsibilities, the strain of managing both roles becomes more severe.
The teacher-coach is therefore positioned within a broader organizational context where role conflict is not solely an individual problem; it is an outcome of how schools allocate labor, recognize workload, and structure expectations. Despite the growing relevance of teacher-coach role conflict, much of the existing literature has historically concentrated on general Physical Education (PE) teachers or single-sport coaches, leaving a meaningful gap in the empirical understanding of MAPEH teachers who manage a multidisciplinary curriculum alongside competitive coaching duties. This gap is non-trivial because the MAPEH role is structurally more complex than PE-only assignments: it requires mastery across multiple learning areas while simultaneously performing coaching responsibilities that often resemble a second job.
Without research specifically focused on MAPEH teacher-coaches, educational policymakers and school administrators lack the targeted evidence needed to create sustainable workload policies, time credit systems, and support programs. To address this gap, the present study quantitatively examines the challenges, time allocation patterns, stress levels, and work-life balance of MAPEH teachers who hold dual academic and sports coaching responsibilities, compared with those without coaching duties. It further investigates whether teaching hours and coaching hours operate as compensatory commitments (one reducing the other) or as additive burdens that extend total work time.
Anchored in role conflict theory and boundary theory, this study frames the teacher-coach experience as an interaction between incompatible role expectations and boundary permeability. In doing so, it extends prior research by centering the multidisciplinary MAPEH context and providing empirical data relevant to public secondary schools. The significance of this research is both practical and policy-oriented. For education agencies and school administrators, identifying the primary drivers of strain-such as workload intensity and time-management constraints-supports evidence-based decision-making on staffing, compensation, and workload credit systems.
For teachers, validating these challenges through quantitative data transforms anecdotal concerns into measurable evidence that can inform support interventions and institutional reform. Ultimately, ensuring that MAPEH teacher-coaches can maintain sustainable work patterns is critical not only for teacher well-being and retention but also for safeguarding instructional quality across all four MAPEH components and protecting the broader student population's access to holistic education. 2. Method
This study employed a quantitative, descriptive-comparative and correlational research design to examine the challenges experienced by MAPEH teachers who concurrently serve as school sports coaches ("dual-role teacher-coaches") and to compare their work-life balance and stress indicators with those of MAPEH teachers who do not hold coaching responsibilities. The design was selected to achieve two primary objectives: (a) to describe the nature and intensity of challenges encountered by teacher-coaches across key domains (e.g., workload, time management, role conflict), and (b) to test group differences and associations between role assignment, time allocation patterns, and well-being outcomes.
A comparative approach was applied by categorizing participants into two groups: (1) MAPEH teachers assigned as sports coaches and (2) MAPEH teachers without coaching roles. This grouping enabled statistical comparisons of work-life balance outcomes between the dual-role and non-coaching cohorts. In parallel, a correlational component assessed whether instructional workload and coaching workload function as independent (additive) commitments or whether time allocation to one role reduces time spent in the other. To support this objective, the study quantified weekly teaching and coaching hours and examined their statistical relationship, providing evidence about time distribution dynamics among dual-role personnel.
Data were collected through a structured survey instrument administered to MAPEH teachers across public secondary schools in the target region. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize respondent characteristics and challenge indicators. In contrast, inferential statistics were applied to evaluate hypothesized differences and associations between role assignment and key outcome variables. Collectively, this design enabled an evidence-based assessment of how dual-role assignment relates to workload pressure, role strain, and work-life balance among MAPEH teachers. 2.2 Participants Participants consisted of 500 public secondary school MAPEH teachers drawn from selected schools in the study setting.
Respondents were categorized into two groups based on role assignment: (1) MAPEH teachers with formal sports coaching responsibilities (dual-role teacher-coaches) and (2) MAPEH teachers without coaching assignments, who served as the comparison group. This grouping enabled direct assessment of differences in work-related challenges and work-life balance outcomes between dual-role and non-coaching teachers. Eligible participants were required to be actively employed as MAPEH teachers during the data collection period and assigned to public secondary schools included in the sampling frame. Teacher-coaches were further defined as MAPEH teachers who coached at least one school sports team alongside their instructional responsibilities. 2.3 Instrumentation Data were collected using a structured, self-administered survey questionnaire designed to measure the challenges and work-life balance conditions of MAPEH teachers, with particular emphasis on those holding dual teaching and coaching responsibilities.
The instrument comprised sections capturing (a) respondent demographic and professional profile, (b) role-related challenges experienced as a teacher-coach, (c) workload and time allocation indicators for teaching and coaching tasks, and (d) perceived work-life balance outcomes. Challenge indicators were measured using Likert-type items aligned with commonly reported teacher-coach constraints, including workload demands, time management pressures, and competing role expectations. Respondents reported time-use patterns by indicating the approximate number of weekly hours spent on instructional duties and coaching-related activities, supporting analysis of whether responsibilities were additive or compensatory.
Work-life balance items assessed the extent to which professional duties interfered with rest, family time, and personal responsibilities, enabling comparative analysis between teacher-coaches and non-coaching teachers. Prior to full administration, the questionnaire underwent content review to ensure that item coverage was appropriate to the teacher-coach context and consistent with the study objectives. Responses were treated as composite indicators for descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. 2.4 Data Analysis Survey responses were encoded and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques aligned with the study objectives.
Descriptive statistics were computed to summarize participant characteristics, quantify the intensity of reported challenges, and describe weekly time allocation to instructional and coaching duties. Mean scores were interpreted using the study's established scale descriptors to determine the relative severity of challenge domains. To examine the relationship between time spent on teaching and coaching responsibilities among dual-role respondents, a Pearson product-moment correlation was used. This analysis tested whether instructional hours and coaching hours were statistically associated, providing evidence on whether coaching obligations displaced teaching time or represented an additional workload.
Comparative analyses were conducted to determine whether work-life balance outcomes differed significantly between dual-role teacher-coaches and non-coaching MAPEH teachers. An independent samples t-test was used to assess mean differences between the two groups on work-life balance indicators, with statistical significance evaluated at the study's defined alpha level. All results were reported using appropriate test statistics and corresponding p-values to support interpretation and discussion.
Overall, MAPEH teachers assigned as sports coaches reported substantial role-related challenges, with the highest levels concentrated in workload demands and time management constraints. Workload emerged as the most prominent challenge domain (overall M = 4.08), indicating that teacher-coaches consistently perceived their assigned tasks as heavy and difficult to manage alongside instructional responsibilities. Time management was similarly elevated (M = 4.05), reflecting persistent difficulty in balancing classroom obligations with coaching schedules and associated administrative tasks. In contrast, perceived school support was comparatively lower (M = 3.02), suggesting that institutional support was present but insufficient to offset workload and scheduling pressures.
These findings indicate that the teacher-coach role is characterized primarily by time-intensive and operationally demanding responsibilities rather than by isolated issues of interpersonal or organizational support. Time-use estimates show that coaching responsibilities constituted a meaningful extension of the professional workweek. Teacher-coaches reported an average of 22.58 hours/week dedicated to teaching duties and 21.23 hours/week devoted to coaching activities. This pattern demonstrates that coaching commitments are not minor or supplementary; instead, they represent a second substantial workload stream comparable in magnitude to instructional time.
The near-equivalence of reported teaching and coaching hours provides descriptive evidence that dual-role assignment increases total weekly labor time rather than functioning as an integrated or time-neutral role arrangement. Correlation analysis indicated that weekly hours devoted to teaching and coaching were not significantly related (r = +0.117, p = 0.215). This non-significant association suggests that increased coaching time did not correspond to reduced teaching time (or vice versa), implying that the two workload components operate largely independently. In practical terms, the findings support the interpretation that coaching responsibilities tend to be additive rather than compensatory, thereby increasing overall workload exposure for teacher-coaches.
Comparative analysis revealed a statistically significant difference in work-life balance outcomes between MAPEH teacher-coaches and non-coaching MAPEH teachers. The independent-samples t-test showed that teacher-coaches reported significantly poorer work-life balance than their non-coaching counterparts (t = −19.14, p < 0.001). This result indicates a strong relationship between dual-role assignment and reduced capacity to maintain personal and family time boundaries. Taken together with the workload and time-allocation findings, the group difference suggests that the dual-role arrangement creates sustained work intensity that intrudes into non-work domains and contributes to imbalance.
The present study provides empirical evidence that MAPEH teachers who concurrently serve as sports coaches experience a dual-role context characterized by high challenge intensity, extended worktime exposure, and significantly poorer work-life balance outcomes relative to non-coaching MAPEH teachers. Specifically, the results demonstrate that workload and time management are the most salient challenge domains for teacher-coaches, while perceived institutional support is comparatively less robust. These findings are consistent with role stress frameworks, which posit that conflicting and excessive role expectations increase strain when available resources (time, authority, support) are insufficient to satisfy competing demands (Kahn et al., 1964).
Workload emerged as the highest-rated challenge domain (M = 4.08), followed closely by time management (M = 4.05). In practical terms, these scores indicate that teacher-coaches experience their responsibilities not merely as busy schedules but as persistently heavy and challenging to coordinate. These results align with the teacher-coach literature, which frequently identifies time pressure and role overload as central stressors in dual-role occupational settings (Westmoreland, 2024). The high intensity of these pressures is also consistent with broader evidence linking excessive workload to emotional exhaustion and burnout among teachers, in which job demands accumulate beyond sustainable capacity (Van Droogenbroeck et al., 2014).
A key implication is that workload strain in this population is not simply attributable to "more hours," but to the simultaneous requirement to deliver multi-disciplinary instruction across four learning areas while also meeting performance-based coaching expectations. This supports a role conflict interpretation in which teacher-coaches encounter incompatible demands that cannot be simultaneously optimized. In role theory terms, the dual-role arrangement exposes individuals to competing "role senders" and evaluation standards, increasing the probability of strain, dissatisfaction, and impaired performance (Kahn et al., 1964).
The time-use results show that teacher-coaches devote substantial weekly hours to both teaching (22.58 hours/week) and coaching (21.23 hours/week). Notably, correlation analysis found that teaching hours and coaching hours were not significantly associated (r = +0.117, p = 0.215). This non-significant relationship is consequential because it suggests that coaching time does not compensate for teaching time; instead, the coaching function operates as an additional workload stream. This pattern reinforces an "additive burden" model: teacher-coaches are not reallocating time between roles to preserve total workload; instead, they are accumulating responsibilities.
In role stress theory, such accumulation is characteristic of role overload, wherein an individual cannot reasonably meet all expectations given finite time and energy resources (Kahn et al., 1964). The finding also complements prior teacher-coach research indicating that time scarcity and overlapping deadlines (e.g., academic assessments, training schedules, competitions) frequently intensify stress and perceived inefficacy (Westmoreland, 2024). From an organizational standpoint, these results imply that schools may be structurally relying on a "two jobs in one" arrangement without sufficient workload credit, staffing adjustments, or time allowances.
This raises policy questions regarding whether coaching assignments should be treated as additional compensated roles or whether teaching loads should be formally reduced for designated coaches to prevent chronic overload. The group-comparison results provide strong evidence that dual-role assignment has meaningful consequences for teachers' lived experiences outside of work. Teacher-coaches reported significantly poorer work-life balance than non-coaching MAPEH teachers (t = −19.14, p < 0.001). This result indicates that the dual-role structure is not merely professionally demanding-it meaningfully compromises the boundary between work and personal domains.
This finding is well explained through work/family border theory, which conceptualizes individuals as continuous "border crossers" navigating work and home domains that differ in norms, time structures, and behavioral expectations (Clark, 2000). Teacher-coaches face highly permeable work boundaries because coaching schedules routinely extend into evenings, weekends, and competition travel, making segmentation difficult and increasing spillover into family life. The significant imbalance observed in the present study is consistent with evidence that workload and reduced job flexibility drive work-life conflict and contribute to diminished well-being among teachers (Steiner et al., 2025).
Importantly, the magnitude of difference between groups suggests that teacher-coaches may experience a qualitatively different work-life structure than teachers who remain within instructional duties alone. Whereas non-coaching teachers may experience overtime mainly during peak grading periods, teacher-coaches are likely to have recurring after-hours obligations tied to sports seasons and training continuity. This reinforces the need for institutional policies that recognize coaching as ongoing work-life integration, rather than a temporary or incidental assignment. Although the study found that school support was rated lower (M = 3.02) than workload and time management challenges, this does not imply that support is absent; rather, it suggests that existing support is insufficient to mitigate the burden created by dual-role expectations meaningfully.
In organizational stress terms, support functions as a resource that can buffer the adverse effects of high demands; when demands remain excessive, moderate support may have a limited protective impact (Kahn et al., 1964). The teacher-coach literature emphasizes that leaders' clarity about role expectations, scheduling accommodations, and workload recognition can reduce conflict and enhance role sustainability (Westmoreland, 2024). Accordingly, the present findings suggest that school-based interventions should prioritize structural adjustments (e.g., reduced teaching loads, formal time credit, administrative assistance for athletic documentation, scheduling protections) rather than relying solely on individual coping strategies.
Taken together, the findings indicate that the teacher-coach model-at least as currently implemented-creates predictable conditions for role overload and boundary erosion. Schools and education agencies may therefore consider policy reforms that institutionalize workload recognition for coaching assignments, including (a) formal reduction of teaching loads during sports seasons, (b) compensation or time credits proportional to coaching hours, and (c) administrative support mechanisms to reduce non-instructional and non-coaching paperwork. Given that instructional quality depends on preparation time and cognitive bandwidth, reducing overload may also protect learning outcomes across all MAPEH components.
This study relied on self-reported survey measures, which may be affected by response bias or differences in personal stress thresholds. In addition, the cross-sectional design limits causal inference;. At the same time, dual-role assignment is strongly associated with poorer work-life balance; longitudinal research would better establish causal directionality across sports seasons and school terms. Future studies may also incorporate objective time-use tracking, qualitative interviews, or multi-site comparisons to identify which organizational models best support sustainable teacher-coach workloads. Finally, exploring differences across sports types, competition levels, and administrative support conditions may yield more tailored recommendations for workload policy.
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