The guide is a tool to provide guidance on decision-making. It asks the right questions to identify weaknesses in existing schools and to define the priorities for action and investment. It also identifies where a school can act to improve the quality of its built and outdoor spaces as well as to improve the integration with the neighborhood and the city.

Definition of priorities
The Guide thus helps to identify, based on a «complete» diagnosis, actions related to school spaces. In some cases, these priorities correspond to «absolute» or obvious emergencies. This is the case, for example, when an indicator relating to security proves to be seriously problematic. In other cases, these are more related to the mismatch between certain characteristics of the school infrastructure and the educational choices of the school. A school that would highlight the interest of working by groups of different ages and that would have no space for this type of teaching practice in good comfort or a school wishing to develop the use of ICT, but not having the necessary technical conditions (cabling, network access, etc.) could consider these situations as priorities.

Inspire the action
Based on the defined priorities, an action plan can be outlined, including projects of diverse nature ranging from heavy and structural interventions to management or measures to increase awareness. The guide also provides the documentary resources necessary to refine the diagnosis and to define project paths.

Dialogue with other actors
The guide can be a support for discussions between the actors of the school (users, educational managers, administrative staff, technical staff, etc.) and external (common, associations from the neighborhood, regional services, etc.)  For example, if the school does not have a direct grip on the public spaces that surround it, it can use the criteria related to it in the guide to interact with the communal and regional services concerned.

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