The quality of guidance gives rise to debate

The quality of guidance services has become a crucial public policy-making issue in OECD membercountries. In order to improve this quality, some countries are setting up competence standards, introducing market mechanisms or specific managerial procedures. The highly segmented French system makes it diffi cult to improve the quality and user-friendliness of services rendered to citizens. Various national and regional initiatives have been launched, based on coherent lifelong vocational guidance policies. However, some debate has been focusing on the questions which arise: is it preferable to develop all-inclusive, crosssectional quality standards or specialized ones targeting specifi c groups? Should the system be decentralized for the sake of greater proximity? And what methods of assessment should be adopted?