A Metareview of Research on Educational Inequality and Socioeconomic Disadvantage

Abstract

Socioeconomic inequalities in educational achievement are pervasive across societies. To inform a European Commission-funded project on educational inequalities in children, adolescents, and young adults, we used a scoping review methodology to synthesise the methods, topics, and coverage of reviews of empirical studies published in the past five years (2019–2024). Our systematic search of the Web of Science database identified 498 unique records, which were screened for eligibility. Of these records, 57 progressed to full-text screening, with 29 included in the metareview. We extracted data on the reviews’ methodologies, overarching conceptual perspectives, conceptualisations of socioeconomic inequalities and educational achievement, and educational stages covered. Our analysis found gaps, including a lack of qualitative reviews, a lack of focus on primary education and on tertiary education outside of university (e.g., further education college), scarce coverage of the impact of broader contextual indicators of socioeconomic inequality (e.g., school and neighbourhood contexts) on educational outcomes, and a narrow focus on academic achievement. To conclude our metareview, we synthesise and expand the review topics into an interdisciplinary conceptual diagram that illustrates the breadth and depth of research needed in this field.