Abstract
During the course of their schooling, students are required to make a number of choices that affect both their education and their career prospects. This choice takes place at the end of secondary school, when a course of study must be entered, at the end of high school, when the decision to enroll in higher education is made, and sometimes even during higher education.
So what does it mean to make the right career choice ? It's difficult to diagnose an error in an individual choice, which is based on preferences and knowledge that escape statistical quantification. However, there are signs that systematic biases lead certain populations not to choose certain courses of study, despite the fact that places are available or the students have the necessary level. These signs consist in the under- or over-representation of certain groups in certain streams. This is the case, for example, of girls in science courses or working-class students in elite courses.
This imbalance may stem from a lack of information among students, both about the system and about themselves. Yet public decision-makers have focused on guidance primarily through the prism of supply, by encouraging the creation of places in existing or new training courses. However, it is also important to act on the demand side. Interventions have been carried out in this direction, and their evaluation in the literature provides valuable information on the characteristics of a good public guidance policy.
