UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 states that “Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being at all ages is essential to sustainable development.” The sustainable well-being of college teachers deserves attention. Currently, college teachers in China are facing enormous challenges and pressures, which may increase their emotional exhaustion (EE) and hinder the sustainable development of their well-being (WB). Therefore, this study examined Chinese college teachers’ well-being in relation to their work-life balance (WLB) and EE. An online survey was conducted. The valid subjects included 586 college teachers (367 females, 62.6%). We assessed their WLB, EE, and WB. The results revealed that among the Chinese college teachers, (1) WLB was negatively correlated with EE, but positively correlated with WB; EE was negatively correlated with WB; (2) EE partially mediated the relationship between WLB and WB; and (3) College teachers who are male, class tutors, and in public colleges scored higher on EE and lower on WLB and WB than those who are female, non-class tutors, and in private colleges, respectively. The findings indicated that WLB is an important factor for the sustainable development of the well-being of college teachers, and special attention should be paid to college teachers who are male, class tutors, and in public colleges in China.

The academic performance of teacher education students predicts their future career development and it is also a significant factor related to their future students’ academic performance. However, little is known about the associations between perceived classroom climate, student engagement and academic performance, especially for English-major teacher education students. This study was to examine English-major teacher education students’ academic performance in relation to perceived classroom climate, student engagement. The questionnaire consisted of the Emotional Classroom Climate Scale, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale – Student Form-3 Item (UWES-SF-3), and the 5-item Academic Performance Scale. This study investigated 307 English-major teacher education students in Guangxi, China. Among them, 280 (91.2%) were females, and 27 (8.8%) were males, aged between 18 and 24 (M = 20.34, SD = 1.26). Results indicated that perceived classroom climate was positively associated with student engagement and academic performance among English-major teacher education students; their student engagement was positively associated with their academic performance, and student engagement partially mediated the relationship between perceived classroom climate and academic performance. The findings supported the motivational process of study demands-resources (SD-R) model and revealed that perceived classroom climate and student engagement were significant factors linked to academic performance, and practical suggestions were discussed.

The post-COVID-19 era means that the COVID-19 is basically under control; however, the risk of the pandemic still affects people's work, study, and life, physically and psychologically. In this era, due to the more challenges first-year college students face, more attention should be paid to their mental health. An emerging study demands-resources (SD-R) model can explain the influencing mechanism of college students' mental health. This model suggests that study demands increase the risk of student burnout, which results in mental health problems; meanwhile, study resources reduce student burnout and increase student engagement, thus improving mental health. Based on the SD-R model, this study explores the impacts of time pressure, emotional exhaustion, perceived social support, and student engagement on mental health and provides adequate measures to reduce the risk of mental health problems among first-year students. Time pressure, perceived social support, emotional exhaustion, student engagement, and mental health scales were used to investigate 537 first-year students at three universities in Guangxi, China, of whom 290 (54%) were female, and 247 (46%) were male, and the average age was 18.97 ± 1.01. Results indicated that: (1) Moderate scores on time pressure and emotional exhaustion and slightly-above-the-median scores on perceived social support, student engagement, and mental health were found among first-year students in the post-COVID-19 era. (2) Time pressure had a positive relationship with emotional exhaustion and a negative relationship with mental health. (3) Perceived social support was negatively correlated with emotional exhaustion but positively correlated with student engagement, and thus improved mental health. Results of this study with a sample of first-year college students in China support the hypotheses based on the SD-R model. These findings suggest that increasing perceived social support and student engagement while decreasing time pressure and emotional exhaustion may promote mental health among first-year college students.

The preschool education profession often faces many challenges and preschool teachers, as important members of the preschool education profession must respond to a variety of emergencies with young children, which also leads to high levels of job stress and can have a negative impact on their ongoing well-being. Past research has pointed out that a healthy lifestyle is one of the key factors in enhancing sustainable well-being in high-stress work situations and many studies have found that good leisure activity engagement as a healthy lifestyle is associated with higher levels of well-being. However, the relationship between preschool teachers’ leisure engagement and sustainable well-being has been less explored. Therefore, this study proposed seven research hypotheses based on the engagement theory proposed by Fredricks et al. (2004) and developed a research model to explore the relationship between three types of leisure engagement, including behavioral, affective and cognitive, and preschool teachers’ job stress and sustainable well-being, using age as a control variable. This study used a cross-sectional web-based questionnaire with a convenience sample of 500 preschool teachers in China. The collected data were analyzed for reliability and validity, model fit testing and structural equation modeling for model validation after removing invalid data and incomplete responses. The results of the study showed that (a) behavioral engagement was not related with either the job stress or sustainable well-being of preschool teachers; (b) Emotional and cognitive engagement were negatively related to job stress but positively related to the sustainable well-being of preschool teachers; and (c) Job stress was negatively related to the sustainable well-being of preschool teachers; (d) Age is an effective control variable. From the above results, it is clear that not all three types of leisure engagement are effective in terms of reducing the work stress of preschool teachers. As well as being related to the sustainable well-being of preschool teachers emotional and cognitive engagement contributed more to sustainable well-being acquisition.

Flipped classrooms have been shown to be an effective teaching mode that fosters students’ self-learning, stimulates learning motivation, and improves academic performance. However, preparation work and after-class assignments take up a large portion of students' and teachers' time outside the classroom, putting enormous strain on both parties. This study explores the time spent by teachers and students under the current flipped classroom mode and its impact on them from the perspective of junior high school English teachers and then proposes a full-flipped classroom mode to solve these problems. To this end, eight junior high school English teachers who had implemented flipped classroom teaching in a specific district in China were interviewed. The collected data were processed using thematic analysis. The results showed that the current flipped classroom mode does increase the outside-classroom burden for both students and teachers. The learning burden leaves students lacking in exercise and opportunities to develop interests, which is detrimental to their physical, mental, and overall development. The out-of-class burden hinders teachers from achieving work-life balance and is detrimental to their physical and mental health, as well as their professional growth. Based on the views of the interviewees and existing in-class flipped mode, this study provides a full-flipped classroom mode that is in line with Chinese students' actual language learning to concretize the in-class flipped pattern and present its specific steps in language teaching, which integrates all preclass preparation, postclass assignments, and assignment evaluation into one class, including four teaching sessions: preview and lecture, preview tasks, consolidation assignments, and evaluation and feedback.

The burden of homework correction is a major stress factor for junior high school teachers and has received significant academic attention. This study aimed to understand the perspectives of junior high school English teachers on homework correction, the challenges they face, and strategies to address these challenges. Thirteen junior high school English teachers from Guangxi, China, were interviewed. Thematic analysis revealed that homework correction benefits teachers by enhancing their understanding of student learning, promoting student engagement, and facilitating classroom management. It also discovered drawbacks such as inefficient or hurried homework correction, and students' dependence on teachers as well. Time constraints and limited energy emerge as primary difficulties junior high school English teachers face. Participants recommended utilization of intelligent assignment management platforms and zero correction practices to alleviate the burden. Additionally, school supports in professional and personal life contribute to teachers’ well-being. These findings provide valuable insights and practical strategies for educational management departments to mitigate the homework correction burden experienced by junior high school English teachers.