A groundbreaking international survey of numeracy and literacy skills in 24
countries, organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), has found that Japan and Finland were in the lead while
Ireland was below average.
In the Irish survey conducted by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) of 6,000
adults aged 16-65 from an international sample of around 166,000 in the
Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), it was
found that almost one in five Irish residents, 17.9%, struggle with basic literacy skills,
for example common day routines such as reading labels on supermarket shelves.
Adults in Ireland have an average (mean) score on the literacy scale of 266
compared to the study average of 270. This adjusted mean score places Ireland
17th out of 24 participating countries, and in a group with Germany (267),
Poland (267), Austria (266), Flanders (Belgium) (266) and Northern Ireland
(265), whose literacy mean scores are not statistically different from that of
Ireland . Japan (294) and Finland (288) have the highest literacy mean
scores (adjusted).
Countries with the largest proportions of adults scoring at or below the
basic Level 1 include Italy (27.7%), Spain (27.5%) and France (21.6%),
while Japan (4.9%), Finland (10.6%), the Slovak Republic (11.6%) and the
Netherlands (11.7%) have the smallest proportion of adults scoring at or below
Level 1.
Adults in Ireland aged 16–65 have a
mean score of 255 on the numeracy scale, significantly below the PIAAC average
score of 266. This adjusted mean score places Ireland 19th out of 24
participating countries and in a group with Northern Ireland (255) and France
(253). Japan and Finland score the highest on numeracy with adjusted mean scores
of 286 and 282 respectively.
About one quarter (25.6%) of adults in
Ireland score at or below Level 1 on the numeracy scale compared to just 20%
(20.2%) on average across participating countries. This percentage is not
statistically different from Poland (23.5%), England (25.5%) and Northern
Ireland (26.6%), but is lower than the percentage at this level in France
(28.9%), Spain (31.4%), Italy (32.3%) and the United States (32.9%). Japan is
the only country that has less than 10% of adults at or below Level 1 on numeracy
proficiency.
Problem solving in technology-rich environments
proficiency was also tested in PIAAC. This assessed the respondent’s ability to
use a number of common computer applications (e.g. email, spread sheets, word
processing, internet browser) to complete various tasks.
The distribution of adults across the different
levels of the problem solving scale is reduced by the proportion of adults who
said they had no computer experience (10% in Ireland as against an 8% study
average), failed the basic computer skills assessment (5% in both Ireland and
internationally) and the proportion of adults (17% in Ireland versus the study
average of 10%) who opted not to take a computer-based assessment even though
they had previously used a computer.
More than two-fifths (42%) of adults in Ireland
score at or below Level 1 (29.5% at Level 1, 12.6% below Level 1) on the problem
solving scale, the same as the study average (42%). Ireland is in a large group
of six other countries with a similar proportion at this level, including
Finland (40%), Estonia (43%) and Sweden (44%).
At the top end of problem solving proficiency 25%
of Ireland's adults are at Levels 2 and 3 compared to 34% on average
internationally. This is significantly more than Poland (19%) but not
statistically different from Northern Ireland (29%), Estonia (28%) or the Slovak
Republic (26%).
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Ireland
- In Ireland, the mean proficiency score of 16-65 year-olds in literacy is
significantly below the average of the OECD countries participating in the
Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). In numeracy, the mean proficiency score is also
significantly below the average.
- In Ireland, the younger adult population (16-24 year-olds)
scores significantly
below the average in literacy of the OECD countries participating in the Survey.
In numeracy, they score significantly below the average. In both domains,
younger adults score than their older counterparts (55-65 year-olds).
- In Ireland, 14.7% of the adult population (16-65 year-olds) report no prior
experience with computers or lack very basic computer skills. In contrast, 25%
of the adult population score at the highest levels in problem solving in
technology-rich environments, a proportion significantly below the average of
the OECD countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC).
- In most participating countries, a significant minority have a very low level
proficiency in literacy and numeracy. This is also true for Ireland, where 17.4%
of the adults score at the lowest levels in literacy and 25.2% in numeracy.
Finland
- In Finland, the mean proficiency score of 16-65 year-olds in literacy is
significantly above the average of the OECD countries participating in the
Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). In numeracy, the mean proficiency score is also
significantly above the average.
- In Finland, the younger adult population (16-24 year-olds)
scores significantly
above the average in literacy of the OECD countries participating in the Survey.
In numeracy, they score significantly above the average. In both domains,
younger adults score higher than their older counterparts (55-65 year-olds).
- In Finland, 8.7% of the adult population (16-65 year-olds) report no prior
experience with computers or lack very basic computer skills. In contrast, 42%
of the adult population score at the highest levels in problem solving in
technology-rich environments, a proportion significantly above the average of
the OECD countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC).
- In most participating countries, a significant minority have a very low level
proficiency in literacy and numeracy. This is also true for Finland, where 10.6%
of the adults score at the lowest levels in literacy and 12.8% in numeracy.
OECD reports
Irish results [pdf]
Key findings summary from OECD
Progress across generations
Some countries have made impressive progress over recent decades in equipping
more people with better literacy and numeracy skills. Young Koreans, for
example, are outperformed only by their Japanese peers, while Korea’s 55 to 64
year-olds are among the three lowest-performing groups of this age. Older Finns
perform around the average, while younger Finns are among the top performers,
together with Japan, Korea and the Netherlands.
But in England and the United States, the literacy and numeracy skills of young
people entering the labour market are no better than those leaving for
retirement. England ranks among the top three countries surveyed for literacy
skills among the 55-65 year-olds. But the country is in the bottom three when it
comes to such skills among 16-25 year-olds. American 55-65 year-olds perform
around the average, but young Americans rank the lowest among their peers in the
24 countries surveyed.
Gap between skills and educational
qualifications
The Survey revealed large
differences in some cases between a person’s actual skill levels and their
educational qualifications. In most countries at least a quarter of university
graduates fall into the bottom two levels out of five on the literacy test. But
in Australia, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands and Norway, more than one in four
adults without a high school degree achieved Level 3, showing that people can
learn skills despite limited early schooling.
Impact of social background varies
Social background has a strong impact on skills in some countries. The children
of parents with low levels of education in England, Germany, Italy, Poland and
the US have much weaker reading skills than their peers with better educated
parents. In contrast, Australia, Estonia, Japan and Sweden show the smallest
difference between these two groups.
Economic and social impact of skills
On average, the median hourly wage of workers scoring at the top levels (levels
4 & 5) on the literacy scale is 61% higher than that of workers scoring at or
below Level 1. Differences in this “return on investment” vary widely: in
several countries, such as the Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, the Slovak
Republic and Sweden, the gap in wages is relatively narrow, but is much wider in
the United States, Korea, Ireland, Canada and Germany.
Adults with low skills are also more likely to place less trust in others and
feel less civically engaged compared with the highly skilled.
Challenges for immigrants
Immigrants performed worse than the native-born, especially those who did not
learn the language of their new country as a child. But skills proficiency
improves with length of stay in the host country, pointing to the important role
of integration policies.
Adult learning
The highly skilled were on average three times more likely to take part in
further training than the low skilled. The Survey suggests that Denmark,
Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have been most successful in
boosting adult learning rates among the low-skilled. But countries with large
shares of low-skilled adults, such as Canada, England and Northern Ireland,
Ireland, Italy, Spain and the US, will need to do more to make adult learning
more accessible, especially in the workplace.
PIAAC focuses on three specific skill areas or domains: literacy, numeracy
and problem solving in technology-rich environments. The OECD has labelled these areas “key information processing
skills” because they are necessary for fully “participating in the labour market, education and training, and
social and civic life”. A comprehensive framework constructed by expert groups underlies each of the skill domains
(OECD, 2012), and these groups also guided the development of the assessment items. The assessment tasks were
designed to imitate tasks that an individual might face in everyday life.
The literacy tasks generally required the respondent to read through texts of
varying complexity to find specific pieces of information. The structure of the presented texts included, for example,
newspaper articles, websites and posters. As with literacy, the numeracy tasks were based on real-world problems and
ranged from simple addition and subtraction to the calculation of averages, percentages and the estimation of
quantities. The format of the tasks included supermarket price tags, food labels, graphs and tables containing
numbers.
In the third skill area, problem solving tasks required the respondent to
interact with one or more common computer applications to solve a problem. In some cases this was as straightforward as
responding to a simple email, whereas other tasks involved navigating through a series of web pages to find the answer
to a question. For example, one task required the respondent to find specific information on a spreadsheet and enter
it in a web-based form.
Literacy: Literacy is defined as the ability to understand, evaluate,
use and
engage with written texts to participate in society, achieve one’s
goals, and develop one’s knowledge and potential.
Literacy encompasses a range of skills from the decoding of written
words and sentences to the comprehension, interpretation, and
evaluation of complex texts. It does not, however, involve the
production of text (writing).
Information on the skills of adults with low levels of proficiency
is provided by an assessment of reading components that covers
text vocabulary, sentence comprehension and passage fluency.
Numeracy: Numeracy is defined as the ability to access, use, interpret
and
communicate mathematical information and ideas in order to
engage in and manage the mathematical demands of a range of
situations in adult life.
To this end, numeracy involves managing a situation or solving a
problem in a real context, by responding to mathematical content
and concepts represented in multiple ways.
Problem solving in technology-rich environments: Problem solving in
technology-rich environments is defined as
the ability to use digital technology, communication tools and
networks to acquire and evaluate information, communicate with
others and perform practical tasks.
The assessment focuses on the abilities to solve problems for
personal, work and civic purposes by setting up appropriate goals
and plans, and accessing and making use of information through
computers and computer networks.
Around 166 000 adults aged 16-65 were surveyed in 24 countries and sub-national regions: 22 OECD member countries – Australia, Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom (England and Northern Ireland), and the United States; and two partner countries – Cyprus and the Russian Federation
The language of assessment was the official language or languages of each participating country. In some countries, the assessment was also conducted in widely spoken minority or regional languages.
Sample sizes depended primarily on the number of cognitive domains assessed and the number of languages in which the assessment was administered. The achieved samples ranged from a minimum of approximately 4 500 to a maximum of nearly 27 300.
Literacy for people aged 16-24
1 Finland
2 Japan
3 South Korea
4 Netherlands
5 Estonia
6 Australia
7 Sweden
8 Poland
9 Czech Republic
10 Germany
11 Austria
12 Slovak Republic
13 Denmark
14 France
15 Canada
16 Norway
17 Ireland
18 Spain
19 England/N Ireland
20 United States
21 Italy
22 Cyprus
Literacy for all adults
1 Japan
2 Finland
3 Netherlands
4 Sweden
5 Australia
6 Norway
7 Estonia
8 Slovak Republic
9 Flanders (Belgium)
10 Canada
11 Czech Republic
12 Denmark
13 South Korea
14 England/N Ireland
15 Germany
16 United States
17 Austria
18 Poland
19 Ireland
20 France
21 Spain
22 Italy
Numeracy for people aged 16-24
1 Netherlands
2 Finland
3 Japan
4 Flanders (Belgium)
5 South Korea
6 Austria
7 Estonia
8 Sweden
9 Czech Republic
10 Slovak Republic
11 Germany
12 Denmark
13 Norway
14 Australia
15 Poland
16 Canada
17 Cyprus
18 Northern Ireland
19 France
20 Ireland
21 England
22 Spain
23 Italy
24 United States
Numeracy for all adults
1 Japan
2 Finland
3 Sweden
4 Netherlands
5 Norway
6 Denmark
7 Slovak Republic
8 Flanders (Belgium)
9 Czech Republic
10 Austria
11 Germany
12 Estonia
13 Australia
14 Canada
15 South Korea
16 England/N Ireland
17 Poland
18 France
19 Ireland
20 United States
21 Italy
22 Spain
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