Proponents of welfare policy have argued that publicly funded early childhood education and care (ECEC), paid parental leave, and family benefits spending can weaken the influence of social background on educational outcomes by providing a supplementary source of early investment that particularly benefits disadvantaged families. We analyze whether the welfare state context in which children spend their early childhood (ages 0–5) moderates the association between parental educational attainment and the child’s educational achievement at age 10. We combine data from two large-scale international student assessments with data about welfare state policies. Results from multilevel models show that countries with higher public ECEC spending and higher family benefits spending exhibited a weaker association between parental education and student math achievement. Countries with longer parental leave exhibited a stronger association between parental education and student math, science, and reading achievement. Findings provide evidence of the mixed role of welfare state policies for social inequality in student achievement.

中文翻译：

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福利国家政策与教育不平等：一项跨国多队列研究

福利政策的支持者认为，公共资助的幼儿教育和保育（ECEC）、带薪育儿假和家庭福利支出可以提供早期投资的补充来源，特别有利于弱势家庭，从而削弱社会背景对教育成果的影响。我们分析了儿童度过幼儿期（0-5 岁）的福利国家环境是否调节了父母教育程度与儿童 10 岁时教育成就之间的关联。我们将两项大规模国际学生评估的数据与以下数据结合起来：福利国家政策。多层次模型的结果表明，公共幼儿保育支出和家庭福利支出较高的国家，父母教育与学生数学成绩之间的关联较弱。育儿假较长的国家表现出父母教育与学生数学、科学和阅读成绩之间更强的关联。研究结果证明福利国家政策对社会不平等对学生成绩的影响是复杂的。