Social inequalities can be found in various aspects of educational attainment at different points in the educational biography, from early childhood education to higher education. There is a positive effect of a privileged parental background on participation in institutionalized early childhood education and care (e.g., Stahl & Schober, 2018), academic-track attendance at secondary school level (“Gymnasium”, e.g., Dumont et al., 2019) and university entrance (e.g., Reimer & Pollak, 2010). Social background effects can also be found in children’s and adolescents’ competencies (e.g., Linberg et al., 2019) and their later degrees (Becker, & Meyer, 2019). Still, the existing research needs to be synthesized in order to assess the entire evidence base. This is where the present systematic review sets in. For the first time, the available research on social inequalities in educational attainment in predominantly German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria & Switzerland; included publication languages German, English, French) was systematized for the a) pre-school level, b) primary and secondary school level as well as c) higher education and d) vocational training for a period of 20 years (2000-2020). The aspects of educational participation, competencies and grades were included as well as educational qualifications. The present systematic review follows the methodical steps of 1) an extensive literature search, 2) a two-step criteria-based literature selection (screening) and 3) coding of relevant information (Gough et al., 2017). A total of 33,662 literature references were identified using online database searches (FIS Bildung, Google Scholar, ERIC, DNB and educational sector specific databases) and screened regarding the studies’ relevance for the research question and their scientific quality. 568 studies could be included in the coding process. The general results show that social inequality is persistent throughout all educational sectors (Bachsleitner et al., 2022). The strongest evidence can be found for the primary and secondary school level based on n= 318 included studies. The present study manages thus to combine robust findings on social inequalities in educational attainment and highlight further research potentials. Furthermore, conclusions can be drawn about the field of inequality research itself. The evidence on social inequality effects will be presented using gap maps, which provide a way of illustrating the found evidence. The methodological procedures for quality assurance as well as the challenges of a broadly based systematic review will be outlined.

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