Programme for the International Assessment of Adult
Competencies (PIAAC)
Part of OECD Skills program together with PISA and OECD Skills Strategy
PISA looks at knowledge and skills of 15-year olds , PIAAC the entire adult
population, (16-65).
PISA tries to identify ways in which students can learn better, teachers can
teach better, and schools can operate more effectively.
PIAAC focuses on how adults develop their skills, how the use sills, and what
benefits they gain from using them.
PIAAC collects information on how skills are used at home, in the workplace
and in the community, how these skills developed maintained and lost over a
lifetime, and how these skills are related to labour market participation,
income, health, and social and political engagement.
The PIAAC policy ambition
(a) identify and measure differences between individuals and countries in
competencies believed to underline both personal and societal success;
(b) assess the impact of these competencies on social and economic
outcomes at individual and aggregated levels;
(c) gauge the performance of education and training systems, workplace
practices and social policies in generating required competencies; and
(d) help to clarify the policy levers that could contribute to enhancing
competencies.
Overselling what PIAAC can do
• “For instance, it would be valuable to know whether six months of early
childhood education is less, equally or more important in determining
patterns of learning in adulthood than other policies (such as aspects of
curriculum design, aims at increasing the motivation to learn, or financial
incentives for adult learning)” OECD, 2007, p. 29).
Original data collection ambition:
• Test to assess literacy, numeracy and problem solving
• Individual survey
• Workplace survey
• Collection of administrative and policy data from countries
The economistic discourse
Education as a production function:
Education - worker’s characteristics – productivity - wage individual and national
prosperity.
“Education is becoming less distinct from that which is he economy (OECD, 1989).
Predictions of labour market structure where will the new jobs come and
relationship between education and employment/wages, wellbeing, health
Almost exclusively focus on supply of skilled workforce supply not demand
“Education is the best economic policy we have” (Tony Blair)
“When learning becomes profitable we capitalists must become humanists.”
(Gyllenhammar)
Percentage of workers who are over or under qualified
over- or under-skilled in literacy ( after Thorn, 2013)
Sweden
Finland
Canada
Netherlands
Estonia
Poland
Denmark
Flanders…
England/N.…
Norway
United States
Australia
Japan
Average
Korea
Italy
Slovak…
Germany
Ireland
Czech Republic
Spain
Austria
Under-qualification
Over-qualification
% 40
%
30
20
10
0
0
Under-skilled
Over-skilled
5
10
15
20
%
Methods
Target population: adults aged 16-65’ residing in the country, irrespective of
nationality, citizenship or language status.
Language of assessment: the official language or languages of each
participating country. In some countries also conducted in widely spoken
minority or regional language.
Sample size: varies by country from 4,500 to 27300 (Canada), in total 24
countries, 22 OECD countries plus Russian Federation and Cypress.
Data collection: survey undertaken in respondent’s home and administered
on laptop computer or by a paper version depending on computer skills.
Survey of Adult Skills Skills assessed
(after Thorn, 2013)
“Key information-processing skills”
The ability to...
Understand, evaluate, use and engage with written texts.
Literacy
In order to..
Achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential.
Literacy encompasses a range of skills from..
The decoding of written words and sentences
The comprehension, interpretation and evaluation of complex texts.
The ability to…
Access, use, interpret and communicate mathematical information and ideas
Numeracy
Problem Solving
In Technology-rich
Environments
4
In order to..
Engage in and manage the mathematical demands of a range of situations in adults.
Numeracy involves
Managing a situation or solving a problem in a real context, by responding to mathematical
content/information/ideas represented in multiple ways.
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.
The big message: Skills transforms lives and drives economies
What people know and can do impact on their life chances
On the average as proficiency increases:
• the chances of being in the labour force and being employed increases,
• wages increases,
• skills also positively associated with other aspects of wellbeing (health,
trust, participation in volunteer work).
Summary of proficiency in key information-processing skills
Countries
Literacy
Numeracy
(mean score)
(mean score)
Problem solving in
technology-rich
environments
(% at level 2 or 3)
OECD
(After Thorn, 2013)
Significantly above the average
Not significantly different from
the average
Significantly below the average
National entities
Australia
Austria
Canada
280
269
273
268
275
265
38
32
37
Czech Republic
274
276
33
Denm ark
Estonia
Finland
271
278
39
276
273
28
288
282
42
France
Germ any
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Korea
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Slovak Republic
Spain
Sweden
United States
262
254
m
270
272
36
267
256
25
250
247
m
296
288
35
273
263
30
284
280
42
278
278
41
267
260
19
274
276
26
252
246
m
279
279
44
270
253
31
275
280
35
272
262
35
273
269
34
Sub-national entities
Flanders (Belgium )
England/N. Ireland (UK)
Average
Literacy by country by level
0.7
National inequalities
• High social inequalities: England, Germany, Italy, Poland and
the United States
• Low social inequalities: Japan, Australia, Netherland, Norway
and Sweden
(mirrors PISA distributions)
3.14 Literacy proficiency: score differences between native- and
foreign-born adults (after Thorn, 2013)
Higher scores for
native-born adults
Score point difference
70
60
Unadjusted
Adjusted
50
40
30
20
10
0
-10
Higher scores for
foreign born-adults
Japan
Slovak Republic
Czech Republic
Korea
Austria
Estonia
Italy
Northern Ireland (UK)
Average
Norway
Flanders (Belgium)
Denmark
Germany
Ireland
Poland
England/N. Ireland (UK)
England (UK)
Netherlands
France
Australia
Spain
Finland
United States
Canada
Sweden
Differences in literacy proficiency between 5th and 95th
percentile (after Thorn, 2013)
Score-point difference
170
160
150
140
130
120
110
100
Literacy skills in younger and older generations (
after Thorn, 2013)
Canada
Average 16-24 year-olds
US
Average 16-65 year-olds
Average 55-65 year-olds
UK
Germany
France
Finland
Spain
220
230
240
250
260
Korea
270
280
290
Score
300
Role of formal education
• More important in Canada, USA less in Austria, Australia, Estonia, Finland,
Japan, Italy
• In some countries skill levels differ markedly from what data on formal
qualifications suggest ( United States rank much higher level of formal
qualifications than in numeracy, literacy and problem solving skills)
• Japanese and Dutch 25-34 year-olds with only high school outperform
Italian and Spanish university graduates of the same age. Interesting
examples in many countries where those with less education
outperformed those with higher education- especially in older groups.
• Raises questions about the relevance and quality of education in some
countries.
570
5.6a (N) Mean numeracy proficiency in PISA and in the Survey of Adult
Skills(after Thorn, 2013) 23-25 year-olds
550
Korea
Canada
530
Australia
Denmark
510
Ireland
490
United States
Poland
Finland
Netherlands
Japan
Czech Republic
Sweden
Austria
Germany
Slovak Republic
Norway
Spain
Italy
470
450
220
230
240
250
260
270
280
290
300
310
Survey of Adult Skills score
320
PISA score
570
5.6a (L) Mean literacy proficiency in PISA and in the Survey of Adult Skills
23-25 year-olds
(after Thorn, 2013)
550
Ireland
530
Finland
Canada
Australia Korea
Japan
Sweden
510
United States
Spain
490
Austria
Italy
Poland
Norway
Denmark
Czech Republic
Germany
470
450
260
270
280
290
300
310
Survey of Adult Skills score
320
5.7 (L) Participation rate in adult education by literacy proficiency levels
(after Thorn, 2013)
Percent
All adult education and training
100
80
60
40
20
0
Below level 1
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4/5
Use of skills at work ( after Thorn, 2013)
Most frequent use = 4
2.4
Average
2.2
Canada
Index of use
2
Italy
1.8
Japan
1.6
United States
1.4
Reading at work Writing at work
Least frequent use = 0
Numeracy at
work
ICT at work
Problem solving
at work
Use of skills at work ( after Thorn, 2013)
Most frequent use = 4
3.6
3.4
Average
3.2
3
Canada
Index of use
2.8
2.6
Italy
2.4
2.2
Japan
2
1.8
United States
1.6
1.4
Task discretion
Least frequent use = 0
Learning
Influencing
Co-operative Self-organising
Dexterity
Physical
significant
6.11(L) Volunteering and literacy proficiencyStatistically
differences are marked in
Odds ratio
( after Thorn, 2013)
5
Reference group: Level 1 or below
4
3
2
1
0
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4/5
a darker tone
Per cent of workers who report experiencing change at their current workplace during
the last 3 years which has affected their immediate working environment
Source: European Working Conditions Survey, 2010.
Information about PIAAC
• OECD (2013). OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First results from the survey of
adult skills. Paris: OECD (available from the web)
• OECD (2013). Technical Report of the Survey
• of Adult Skills (PIAAC). Paris: OECD (pre-publication copy available on the
web).
• The Centre for Literacy:"Sabadooey PIAAC?": Interpreting PIAAC
ResultsHowdy. Blog Name: "Sabadooey PIAAC?": Interpreting PIAAC
Results Blog URL: http://piaacinstitutes.wordpress.com