Community schools were created as a system to enable stakeholders, such as parents of pupils and local residents, to participate in school management. This paper has the following objectives:

• To clarify the significance of community schools and their actual situation.

• To examine the outcomes of community schools from existing research, with a focus on children’s well-being.

• To examine the participation of pupils and students on school management councils, and to clarify the forms of their participation.

The Saitama City study found that community schools can have a positive transformative effect on children’s behavior and attitudes. It can also be pointed out that children’s participation on school management councils has the potential to capture well-being from the children’s perspective, which is different from that of adults and teachers, to pick up their opinions as educated people, and to function as a place for growth and training for children.

From the above data and examples, it can be said that community schools are an effective system for children’s well-being.

This paper clarifies the current educational cost burden for public elementary and junior high schools and trends in educational cost policy, and examines whether it is in line with the constitutional principle of free education and the principle of the institution bearing the burden in the School Education Act. Currently, many ‘free education’ policies are limited to providing cash payments to households and do not go so far as to guarantee public funding for the expenses necessary for running a school. When we look closely at policies on free teaching materials, they can be categorized into four types depending on the form of subsidy and whether or not there is discretion, and various methods such as cash payments and benefits in kind are being implemented. It is important not simply to cover the costs with public funding, but to ensure that teachers have the discretion to select teaching materials based on the educational needs of their students.

Children living in poverty often remain invisible in health research and policy, despite being within institutional support systems. This study explores how municipal administrative data can be used to better understand and support the well-being of these children, with a focus on those in public assistance households in Japan. Conventional health data, such as medical claims and surveys, often fail to capture the realities of children facing poverty due to selection bias. In contrast, public assistance data collected by municipal welfare offices̶comprising both sociodemographic records and healthcare utilization̶offers a unique opportunity to profile all eligible children. Our analyses have revealed that children born into public assistance households face greater health disadvantages. However, these children are underrepresented in existing research and policy discourse, partly due to a lack of interpretive and hermeneutical resources. We argue that multi-sectoral integration of administrative data̶linking welfare, health, education, and community services̶can help visualize these children’s situations and support evidence-based advocacy. Recognizing and responding to “invisible” children is essential for building inclusive policies that truly support child well-being.

In Japan, the competitive nature of the education system has a negative impact on children’s well-being, reducing their mental health and increasing their risk of developing complex PTSD. However, Japanese people, steeped in the value of economic supremacy, have so far failed to accept the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to improve the competitive nature of the education system. This can be termed social maltreatment. This paper presents a narrative of the process of effecting change in people’s values, as well as research and data on educational maltreatment and abuse. In future, those involved in planning and public management must reflect on their own values and work to change society so that all children can have hope for the future.

Children’s well-being is increasingly being included as a goal in international organizations’ child-related plans. In these plans, children’s wellbeing is framed from a comprehensive perspective, and is actively measured. In recent years, well-being has become a principle or goal of child-related plans in Japan, too. At the same time, the national plan recommends the use of various data held by local governments. On the one hand, local governments are promoting data linkage for early detection of various problems faced by children and push-type support; on the other hand, the promotion is for conducting surveys and research to study effective policies and approaches. In the use of municipal data for children’s wellbeing, it is necessary to pay attention to issues surrounding the integration of multifaceted data and the interpretation of results, as well as the heterogeneity of effects. It is also necessary to pay attention to the relationship between children’s well-being and human rights, coordination among rights holders, and the heterogeneity of treatment effects.

Shonai Sakura Gakuen, which opened in 2023, is the first school in Toyonaka city to offer integrated elementary and junior high school education. The school implements a unique program (SDG program) to increase children’s motivation to learn and create a fulfilling life. In addition, the SDG program places importance on: 1) enhancing children’s self-esteem and communication skills; 2) creating programs in collaboration with the local community and related organizations; and 3) encouraging children’s growth as independent citizens by exposing them to various ways of living and working. This article briefly introduces the hopes and objectives behind the development of the SDG program and the contents of some of the programs.

This study empirically examines the factors contributing to the success of crowdfunding campaigns organized by local governments under the hometown tax donation system, based on an analysis of 2,533 projects conducted through 2024. The findings from the estimated model confirm that, consistent with previous research, variables such as the target fundraising amount significantly influence the likelihood of successful fundraising. However, in contrast to prior studies, no statistically significant relationship was observed between regional characteristics and fundraising outcomes. Additionally, factors unique to the hometown tax donation system, such as return gifts (given in appreciation of a donation), were found to be significantly associated with fundraising success. This suggests that donors evaluate both the intrinsic content of projects and the distinctive features of the hometown tax system. Moreover, machine learning-based estimations of variable importance reveal that while return gifts contribute to fundraising success, their influence is not overwhelmingly dominant, reflecting a shift in donor preferences.

This study aims to explore the spatial dynamics of snow removal activities and provide insights for collaborative planning by developing a simulation model co-designed by community residents and researchers. Focusing on the rural community of Kutsuki in Takashima City, Japan, the simulation incorporates network automata to model snow removal behaviors through self-help, mutual assistance, and public support. The model structure is based on a network of roads, houses, and residents, with key parameters̶such as age-based snow removal capacity, mutual assistance range, and snow accumulation thresholds̶defined in reference to residents’ experiences through workshops and interviews. The simulation reveals that public support not only directly reduces snow accumulation but also indirectly stimulates self-help and mutual assistance in surrounding areas̶a phenomenon referred to as the “diffusion effect.” Furthermore, the spread and stability of mutual assistance actions are significantly influenced by underlying network structures. The collaborative construction of the model functioned as a platform for residents to rediscover structural challenges in snow removal and promoted shared understanding. This approach demonstrates the potential of simulation as a practical tool for collaborative planning and provides implications for participatory methods in Evidence-Based Policy Making (EBPM), particularly in facilitating deliberation during the planning stage.