School-Based Social Pedagogs and Early School Leaving: A Benefit–Cost Analysis from the Czech Republic

Early school leaving and low upper-secondary completion rates are a persistent challenge in the Czech Republic, especially among socially disadvantaged youth. This article presents a benefit–cost analysis of introducing school-based social pedagogs as a youth support service. Using administrative data and prior impact estimates, we model several implementation and effectiveness scenarios and estimate long-term societal and fiscal effects on employment, benefits, crime, and health. The results suggest that targeted deployment in high-risk schools is likely to generate positive net fiscal benefits, while fully universal coverage may be difficult to justify from a fiscal perspective.