Educational justice in contemporary scholarship: a systematic literature review of principles, perspectives, and emerging directions (2009–2024)

Over the past two decades, educational justice has become a prominent yet debated concept in global educational policy and theory. Despite its frequent use, the term lacks a widely accepted definition and is theorized through diverse—often conflicting—frameworks. This article presents a systematic review of 40 peer-reviewed publications in English and Spanish published between 2009 and 2024, retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, and Scielo. Using a structured screening process focused on conceptualization, we critically analyse how educational justice is framed, distinguishing foundational principles, emerging critical perspectives, and intersectional approaches. The findings show that while distributive logics such as equality of opportunity, luck egalitarianism, and educational adequacy remain dominant, critical approaches emphasizing recognition, respect, and multidimensionality challenge the dominance of resource-based paradigms. Although these perspectives provide valuable insights, they often develop in isolation, leading to parallel debates that obscure the multidimensional and context-dependent character of justice, underscoring the need for synthesis. Moving beyond these traditional conceptualizations is essential, as they overlook complex, intersecting factors—such as disability, migration, multispatiality, and post-human considerations—that influence educational experiences and outcomes and can perpetuate reductive views of fairness. We argue that improving the conceptual clarity of educational justice requires shifting from binary distributive/relational frameworks toward pluralistic, context-sensitive models that can address these complexities. This review maps out conceptual convergences and tensions, identifies underexplored areas, and suggests future directions for theorizing educational justice as a political, epistemic, and pedagogical endeavor.