**Abstract**

The workload of teachers greatly contributes to the quality and academic performance of the learners. This paper sought to investigate the impact of teacher workload on academic excellence and metacognition of learners in two high schools in Chris Hani district in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, with the view of coming up with measures to inform appropriate teacher workload to improve learners' metacognitive skills and academic excellence. The study was guided by Symbolic Interactionism theory. The study used an Interpretivist research paradigm, followed a qualitative approach, and adopted a case study design. Purposive sampling was used to select 6 participants, data were analysed using semi-structured interviews and were analysed thematically. The findings revealed that excessive workloads cause stress and prevent teachers from completing the syllabus on time. It also established that teachers are faced with too much administrative work, which causes an increase in teacher work overload and negatively impacts learners' metacognition and academic excellence. The study recommends that various stakeholders should come up with new strategies that will improve the workload that teachers are given. It further recommends appointment of new teachers in schools to reduce teacher workload.

**Keywords:** teachers, learners, workload, academic excellence, metacognition
