Who Gets and Why: A Phenomenological Study on How School Heads Allocating Ancillary Assignments to Teachers

This study explored the experiences of school heads in promoting accountability among public school teachers, with a specific focus on the challenges they face when allocating ancillary assignments, the coping mechanisms they employ, and the insights they gain. Understanding these experiences is important for improving leadership practices and strengthening accountability systems in schools. A qualitative research design using a phenomenological approach was employed to capture the lived experiences of five public school heads of Asuncion, Davao del Norte. Data were collected through in-depth interviews using an interview guide and were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify key patterns and themes. The findings revealed six main challenges faced by principals: unequal workload distribution, lack of clear guidelines, resistance from teachers, mismatch between teachers’ skills and tasks, time constraints, and limited resources. To cope, school heads employed strategies such as ensuring fair workload distribution, clarifying expectations, communicating openly, matching tasks to teachers’ strengths, prioritizing tasks, and seeking additional resources. Insights gained included the importance of fairness, matching tasks to strengths, and fostering open communication to build trust and teamwork. The study highlights the need for clear policies, responsive leadership, and supportive practices that enhance teacher motivation and cooperation. The findings have practical implications for school heads, the Department of Education, teachers, and policymakers in improving task allocation and accountability systems.