Abstract

Social Justice Teacher Education (SJTE) prepares teachers to confront issues of inequity and marginalization within educational contexts—an endeavor that has become increasingly relevant in highly unequal regions in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. This systematic review maps research on social justice (SJ) theoretical approaches and the production of empirical knowledge about SJTE in Latin American, identifying predominant research foci, theoretical currents, and regional findings. Following PRISMA guidelines, the review included a meta-analysis (metatheory/meta-data) of 52 indexed works (WoS, Scopus, and Scielo Citation Index) published up to 2022. The results show that most research is concentrated in Chile and Brazil, and that theoretical approaches intersect U.S.-based SJTE frameworks and Latin American or international critical educational theories, emphasizing the importance of situated and community-based pedagogies. Most works focus on preservice teachers’ conceptions of SJ, or the challenges faced by teacher educators during the design or implementation of specific SJTE activities. Fewer studies examine SJ-oriented teaching activities designed and implemented by preservice teachers as part of the fieldwork experiences, with the purpose of transforming the realities of marginalized students in local communities. The studies underscore the need to position care, affectivity, and the development of empathy as guiding principles of SJTE and teaching, especially in contexts of continuous political unrest. Further analysis of the design, implementation, and (self-)evaluation of SJTE programs’ pedagogical models, beyond punctual experiences, would contribute to understanding how their decision-making proccesses enable—or constrain—the development of socially just programs, as well as which pedagogical practices facilitate the development of the competences that their future teachers will need to work in challenging post-COVID-19 educational systems. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025.