Sobre justicia social y su relación con la educación en tiempos de desigualdad.

Education is considered to be one of the most important means to achieve equality of opportunity in anysociety. However, in the case of Latin America, the most unequal region in the world, the lack of a meritocraticstructure, as well as an unequally distributed education limit or even void the individual and educationalefforts that entire social groups undertake, instead being socially valued by their origin, race or culture.Understanding educational quality merely in a utilitarian view has also undermined the effectiveness ofeducational policy and research to understand and attend the needs of heterogeneous and unequal societies.Therefore, educational policy is shifting its focus, trying to construct a socially fairer educational space, asthe context suggests that social justice and education have to stay together. In that sense, this article aims todiscuss the possibilities and limits that different conceptual approaches present for achieving a socially justeducation. It reflects on the meaning of equality of opportunity and educational quality in deeply unequalsocieties, and proposes challenges and sacrifices that governments will have to consider if they adopt socialjustice as the core of their educational systems.