Pre-university, initial cycles, and supplementary supports: Latin American “leveling” policies and their represented problems.

Abstract

As a metaphor about levels, the "leveling" term usually names remedial strategies in the transition to higher education (HE), as a response to the entrance of underpreprared students. In the context of a frequent translation of Anglo-Saxon concepts as "levelling", this study investigates the specific problems that are framed under such denomination. Based on the systematization of the prescriptions of 20 policies in 12 countries, it is argued that leveling is inscribed in a temporal tensión (between propedeautics and remediation) and a positional one (between curricular and supplementary) which translates into three problems represented: about admission readiness, about higher education curriculum preparation and about non-traditional student’s readiness.