Social Work and Social Welfare

The development of information networks has given people the freedom of choice and the ability to mutate and adapt on their own. Today's upper elementary school students to college students (born in the late mid-1990s to early 2010s) are the first digital native generation, known as “Generation Z” (shortly known as Gen Z). A review of immersion education shows lack of case study approach, and therefore, in this paper, through specific global collaborative programs of culture exchange between India and Japan, new forms of immersive education are proposed for Generation Z. Through collaborative programs of yoga and anime among the children as well as college students, immersion education mode is developed. Personalized learning, learning based on proficiency and experiential learning are some important steps for the immersive education for Generation Z. This is considered as a new form of education in a multi-verse society. This experience can go beyond the two cases present here and can be effective for early childhood education.

The fulfillment of duties and responsibilities of hub-type social organizations is of great significance to promote social organizations' participation in social governance innovation. This study summarizes the function of hub-type social organizations into a three-level pyramidal stepped functional model. Different from traditional theoretical explanations, this study believes that the key factors affecting the quality of due diligence of hub-type social organizations are not the pros and cons of professional ability, resource environment or operating mechanism, but the matching degree between these three conditions and the functions of hub-type social organizations. If the matching degree is low, even if the conditions of the hub-type social organization are very good, it is easy to fall into the dilemma of inability to perform duties, which can be called "structural dislocation"; on the contrary, if the degree of matching is high, even if the conditions are very weak, the hub-type social organization can also perform their duties smoothly.

This article examines the critical factors and outcomes of coproduction in public service delivery. Three research questions are posed: What is the role of citizens in coproduction? What are the critical factors of coproduction? What are the outcomes of coproduction? The study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the impact of coproduction by undertaking a systematic review. Traditional academic reviews are departed by examining policy and practice evidence that is drawn from 56 worldwide cases. Outcomes are identified that mainly concern the enhanced capacity of both organizations and individual participants, improved effectiveness of services, increased citizen engagement and citizen satisfaction. Evaluation of our review evidence is used to articulating a coproduction model that can inform theoretical developments in advancing coproduction research. In summary, it is suggested that coproduction can be a viable strategy in public services depending on the conditions and circumstances of the context. Implications and future research agenda are provided in conclusion.

Meta-analytic studies are distinguished by comparing literature that reports positive effects with respect to literature that warns of spurious or negative effects. The aim of the present work was to establish the proportion of probabilities between categories and subcategories extracted from the consulted, updated and specialized literature. A documentary study was carried out with a selection of sources indexed to international repositories such as Copernicus, Dialnet, Ebsco, Latindex, Redalyc, Scielo. An indistinct scenario was found, even though the literature that reports positive effects on the quality of life and the subjective well-being of public health services prevails; suggesting the extension of the work to repositories like WOS and Scopus.

Demographic ageing, resulting from rapidly increasing life expectancy and decreasing birth rate, raises a number of challenges. Many countries in the world are raising the age of retirement eligibility because of the significant rise in life expectancy. Although Sri Lankan demographic environment also demonstrates an increase of life expectancy and ageing, the Government has not made comparable increases in the age of retirement. In this backdrop, this paper using both primary and secondary data, examines the timely debate of increasing the mandatory retirement age of the country. The government officials in Sri Lanka can work up to the age of 60 years without seeking extension and at the age of 60 years retirement is compulsory. Recently the government has proposed to extend the mandatory retirement age of them 63 years. At the same time age relating to contributory schemes such as, farmers’ pension and social security pension, have also been extended from 60 to 63 years. The number of government pensioners is increasing significantly, putting more pressure on the recurrent expenditure of the government. Empirical data reveal that the Sri Lankans seems healthier in terms of life expectancy, healthy life expectancy and HDI. Compared to other south Asian countries with similar heath status Sri Lanka enjoys a long retirement period providing the fact that Sri Lankans are capable of working more productive years after retirement age. In fact, as of 2012, male and female retiree at age 60 could survive for another 17 and 21 years respectively. Also increasing the mandatory retirement age will be a partial solution to the anticipated labour shortages in near future arising due to rapid ageing process. However, the rise in longevity is exerting pressure on public finances with increases in pension and elderly care expenses. Hence, it seems timely to consider increasing the mandatory retirement age of the government officials, after assessing the merits and demerits of such measure.