A Metareview of Research on Educational Inequality and Socioeconomic Disadvantage
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...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Education Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15/6/740 |
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| author | Jennifer E. Symonds Yekaterina Chzhen Neil Kaye Jay Dominy Charlotte Campbell Catherine Sykes Sude Işıl Baştuğ Sara Fiasconaro Ilyar Heydari Barardehi |
| author_facet | Jennifer E. Symonds Yekaterina Chzhen Neil Kaye Jay Dominy Charlotte Campbell Catherine Sykes Sude Işıl Baştuğ Sara Fiasconaro Ilyar Heydari Barardehi |
| author_sort | Jennifer E. Symonds |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6b8a16787c144a41b95bd1959d9efab3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2227-7102 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Education Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-6b8a16787c144a41b95bd1959d9efab32025-08-20T03:27:06ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022025-06-0115674010.3390/educsci15060740A Metareview of Research on Educational Inequality and Socioeconomic DisadvantageJennifer E. Symonds0Yekaterina Chzhen1Neil Kaye2Jay Dominy3Charlotte Campbell4Catherine Sykes5Sude Işıl Baştuğ6Sara Fiasconaro7Ilyar Heydari Barardehi8Social Research Institute, Institute of Education, University College London, 55-59 Gordon Sq, London WC1H 0NU, UKDepartment of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin, 3 College Green, Trinity College, D02 PN40 Dublin, IrelandSocial Research Institute, Institute of Education, University College London, 55-59 Gordon Sq, London WC1H 0NU, UKSocial Research Institute, Institute of Education, University College London, 55-59 Gordon Sq, London WC1H 0NU, UKSocial Research Institute, Institute of Education, University College London, 55-59 Gordon Sq, London WC1H 0NU, UKSocial Research Institute, Institute of Education, University College London, 55-59 Gordon Sq, London WC1H 0NU, UKSocial Research Institute, Institute of Education, University College London, 55-59 Gordon Sq, London WC1H 0NU, UKDepartment of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, Via Giuseppe Verdi, 26, 38122 Trento, ItalyDepartment of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin, 3 College Green, Trinity College, D02 PN40 Dublin, IrelandSocioeconomic 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.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15/6/740achievementeconomically disadvantagedliterature reviews |
| spellingShingle | Jennifer E. Symonds Yekaterina Chzhen Neil Kaye Jay Dominy Charlotte Campbell Catherine Sykes Sude Işıl Baştuğ Sara Fiasconaro Ilyar Heydari Barardehi A Metareview of Research on Educational Inequality and Socioeconomic Disadvantage Education Sciences achievement economically disadvantaged literature reviews |
| title | A Metareview of Research on Educational Inequality and Socioeconomic Disadvantage |
| title_full | A Metareview of Research on Educational Inequality and Socioeconomic Disadvantage |
| title_fullStr | A Metareview of Research on Educational Inequality and Socioeconomic Disadvantage |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Metareview of Research on Educational Inequality and Socioeconomic Disadvantage |
| title_short | A Metareview of Research on Educational Inequality and Socioeconomic Disadvantage |
| title_sort | metareview of research on educational inequality and socioeconomic disadvantage |
| topic | achievement economically disadvantaged literature reviews |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15/6/740 |
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