Adaptive Resource Interdependence Framework: Teachers’ Challenges, Behavioral Response, and Coping Strategies in Brigada Eskwela

This qualitative study examines teachers' challenges, behavioral responses, and coping strategies during Brigada Eskwela implementation at Lonoy Heroes Memorial High School through a refined Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) lens, proposing the Adaptive Resource Interdependence Framework to address the theory's internal agency gaps. Despite RDT's focus on external power asymmetries, findings reveal disproportionate reliance on frontline educators amid systemic resource scarcity driven by insufficient MOOE funding. A qualitative explanatory design utilized semi-structured interviews with 21 purposively selected classroom advisers, achieving data saturation after 18 transcripts via six-phase thematic analysis (trustworthiness ensured through member checking, triangulation, and interrater reliability κ=0.82). Results identify three challenge themes—resource constraints, volunteer/manpower issues, and time/coordination difficulties—triggering workload burdens, time struggles, and emotional strain; teachers coped via proactive communication, personal financial sacrifices, strategic planning, and external solicitation. These patterns demonstrate fluid power negotiations and equity costs absent in traditional RDT, necessitating evolution toward bidirectional interdependence, incorporating teacher agency and psychological resilience. Contributions include empirical RDT refinement for educational contexts, policy recommendations for DepEd (MOOE increases, extended timelines, teacher reimbursements), and theoretical advancement recognizing emotional labor in organizational survival, with implications for sustainable Philippine school-community partnerships.