Work-life balance, Academic Passion, and Vitality Among Private College Teachers in China

This study focused on the challenges faced by teachers in the academic ecology of private higher education in China, in particular issues such as organizational expectations, academic pressure, and blurred boundaries between family and work, which affect teachers’ work-life balance and academic sustainability. The aim of the study was to explore the current status and interrelationships of 430 teachers in 7 private universities in China in terms of work-life balance, academic passion and vitality. Descriptive statistical methods were used to analyze the characteristics of teachers from four dimensions: sex, age, highest level of education and years of experience. Through the modified Likert scale, the teachers’ work-life balance was evaluated from three dimensions: mental balance, time balance and satisfaction balance. Evaluate academic passion from three dimensions: harmonious passion, obsessive passion and balanced passion. Academic vitality is analyzed from three key indicators: academic input time, teaching input time, and academic productivity. The research results show that the interviewed teachers are mainly female and middle-aged and young, most of them have a master’s degree or above, and their working years are short. Teachers have a positive attitude towards work-life balance, preferring harmonious and balanced academic passions and not identifying with obsessive passions. Teaching time commitment is highly recognized, and academic time commitment matches productivity. Further analysis revealed that work-life balance, academic enthusiasm and academic vitality promote each other and jointly drive teacher career development. Based on this, this study put forward a series of strategies, including rationalizing workload, providing psychological counseling services, optimizing time management, establishing academic exchange platform and improving academic reward system, promoting teachers’ work-life balance and stimulate their academic passion and vitality.