Children’s and adolescents’ reasoning about distributive fairness and educational inequalities

To investigate children’s and adolescents’ reasoning about distributive fairness in a rural area of Nepal, we asked participants (53% girls, N = 706, M age = 13.48; SD age = 1.79) to distribute educational resources to schools that varied by social class (SC) and to justify their allocation. Most participants allocated equally or equitably; only a minority rewarded the higher-SC school with extra resources. Novel results revealed multiple forms of reasoning coexisting in children’s and adolescents’ explanations about distributive fairness; participants’ reasoning did not just mirror their numeric allocation. Those who allocated equally were primarily concerned with nondiscrimination, whereby some participants focused on social equality and emphasized removing structural barriers. Furthermore, participants’ allocation and reasoning depended on their SC and positive experiences at school.