The accelerating evolution of digital technologies necessitates a fundamental rethinking of pedagogical processes. This systematic review aims to identify the educational capabilities of the metaverse, implementation challenges, supporting learning theories, and transformation requirements within educational systems. Following the PRISMA 2020 protocol, a systematic search was conducted in domestic (Noormags, Magiran, Civilica) and international (IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC) databases from January 2020 to May 2025. Through criterion-based selection prioritizing quality and direct relevance, 28 peer-reviewed articles were selected from 242 initial records. Inter-coder reliability demonstrated substantial agreement (kappa = 0.88). Data were analyzed using directed qualitative content analysis alongside frequency analysis. The findings revealed four main educational capabilities: facilitating cognitive immersion (86%, n=24), enabling co-creation in authentic experiential learning, developing avatar-based social interactions and scaffolding (18%, n=5), and supporting AI-driven personalized learning (43%, n=12). Five key challenges were identified: privacy and data security (50%, n=14), high infrastructure costs (46%, n=13), digital divide (39%, n=11), lack of standardized content (29%, n=8), and insufficient teachers' digital competencies (25%, n=7). Constructivism, Kolb's experiential learning cycle, and Vygotsky's social constructivism were identified as the primary theoretical foundations. Transformation requirements were categorized into five dimensions: policy-making, institutional, professional, technical, and ethical. The integrated conceptual framework was developed inductively based on qualitative content analysis of the 28 selected articles. The value added of this study lies in presenting an integrated conceptual framework (Figure 2) demonstrating that effective metaverse utilization requires a systemic shift toward blended and complementary learning ecosystems — positioning the metaverse as a reinforcing adjunct rather than a replacement for face-to-face instruction.