Presentation. Who Benefits from childcare expansion? Equal opportunities, social investment and social innovation in early years education and care

The aim of this special issue is to investigate inequality in access to Early Childhood Education and Care services (ECEC) by looking at the extent to which access rules, cost of service and type of provision constitute a barrier for certain socio-economic groups. The monograph engages with discussions on the role of policies addressing the needs of children and the future of welfare states from a Social Investment paradigm. All 8 contributions to this Special Issue were initially presented at the panel on Childcare and Equal Opportunities that we organised in the 8th Congress of the Spanish Social Policy Network (ESPAnet-Spain). The articles present empirical evidence from two research projects: Investing in children: Politics, Policies and Outcomes, financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science (CSO2017-88906-R) coordinated by Margarita León; and Models of early years education and care and labour market participation: a study of social innovation in the city of Barcelona financed by RecerCaixa and coordinated by Raquel Gallego and Sheila González.