School careers guidance in the age of algorithms: how can we better support young people in their careers?

Presentation:

With the participation of Frédérique Alexandre-Bailly (Director General of ONISEP), Anthony Mann (Senior Policy Analyst at the OECD), Catherine Moisan (former Director of DEPP, member of the Parcoursup Ethics and Scientific Committee), Camille Terrier (Professor of Economics at Queen Mary University) and Magda Tomasini (Director of DEPP – Direction de l’évaluation, de la prospective et de la performance – at the French Ministry of Education). The round table will be moderated by Séverin Graveleau, journalist at Le Monde.

In France, school careers guidance has a bad reputation. Many young people and their families still see it as a set of complex procedures which, by focusing on the management of flows, limit the range of possibilities. In a context marked by the widespread use of algorithms and automated procedures for allocating students to lycée and higher education, and faced with the uncertainties created by the reform of the baccalauréat, school careers guidance is more than ever the focus of concern and calls for far-reaching reforms.

The issue of guidance is much broader than that of algorithms. Who are the main players in guidance in France and what is their role? What resources do secondary school pupils have at their disposal to help them choose their studies and their future careers? How does France compare with its European neighbours in this area? To what extent are the measures implemented to combat social, territorial and gender bias in career choices achieving their objectives? What avenues of reform could be explored? These are just some of the questions that will be addressed in this round table discussion, bringing together the views of those involved in careers guidance, experts from the education system and researchers.