School Principals’ Opinions on the Meaning and Sources of Workload

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine various factors affecting workload of principals including psychological effects and coping strategies. A semi-structured interview was conducted with 13 principals. Participants consisted of primary and secondary school principals in a province in the Western Black Sea Region, Turkey. According to the research, principals perceive workload as work that limits the time, they want to devote to improving education. Therefore, the main sources of workload were perceived as having to run errands at school, time pressure, human resource-based problems, unnecessary formal daily routines and high e-mail volume. Finally, it was found that principals’ coping strategies were not effective, and that workload caused work-family conflict, stress and emotional wear and tear. Thus, this research contributes to the theoretical framework related to workload. It is suggested to organize bureaucratic procedures in schools, share leadership, establish training programs for principals, raise awareness of principals on time management, and employ assistant principals and other technical personnel where there is staff shortage.