Reframing well-being in higher education: a critical exploration of blended synchronous learning modalities

Purpose This paper aims to critically examine how blended synchronous learning (sometimes referred to as HyFlex) teaching modalities reshape the organization of work, well-being and equity in higher education. It explores how discourses of “flexibility” affect power relations and inclusion among students, reframing well-being not as an individual attribute but as a relational and political process. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a qualitative single-case study of one graduate-level course, drawing on 27 student interviews and classroom observations in a Canadian university. A feminist and critical management lens, grounded in reflexivity and positionality, guides the analysis, with particular attention to issues of equity, voice and the conditions shaping participation. Findings Results show that while blended modalities are framed as tools for accessibility and flexibility, they often reproduce existing inequalities of presence, participation and recognition. Students with fewer technological, social or institutional resources may experience more fragile conditions of participation, including disconnection, stress and reduced opportunities for recognition. The findings reveal tensions between well-being, workload distribution and the rhetoric of choice, where flexibility can become a form of normative pressure to remain constantly available. Practical implications The paper highlights the need for universities to reconsider institutional policies around blended teaching. Recommendations include aligning support structures with equity goals, reducing the hidden workload for instructors, and ensuring meaningful access for students whose participation is shaped by unequal material, technological or relational conditions. Social implications The study contributes to debates on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 5, SDG 8, SDG 10) by showing how higher education reforms may inadvertently reinforce inequality. It cautions that well-being discourses can be instrumentalized for reputational purposes unless embedded in inclusive pedagogical and organizational practices. Originality/value This article advances critical discussions of blended synchronous learning by connecting debates on equity, diversity and well-being in higher education. It offers a feminist analysis that moves beyond techno-pedagogical evaluations to highlight how flexibility operates as a site of power and how inequalities are reproduced through conditions of participation.