skilled for life - key findings from the survey of adult skills (andreas schleicher - special...

1

Skilled for Life? KEY FINDINGS FROM THE SURVEY OF ADULT SKILLS

2

Survey of Adult Skills Participating countries

2013

(**see notes A and B in the Reader’s Guide).

3

2016

Survey of Adult Skills Participating countries


4

Survey of Adult Skills in brief


4

in literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments.

166 thousand adults…Representing 724 million 16-65 year-olds in 24 countries/economies

Took an internationally agreed assessment…

Also surveyed were generic skills such as collaborating with others and organising one’s time, and how adults use their skills

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SURVEY OF ADULT SKILLS

Skills Transform Lives and Drive EconomiesWhat people know and what they can do with what they know has a major impact on their life chances

Likelihood of positive social and economic outcomes among highly literate adults

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

Average England (UK)

(scoring at Level 4/5 compared with those scoring at Level 1 or below)

Odds ratio

7


Inequality in skills relates to how wealth is shared in nations

8

Inequality in the distribution of income and literacy skills

1.41.451.51.551.61.651.7

0.2

0.22

0.24

0.26

0.28

0.3

0.32

0.34

0.36

0.38

0.4

0.33593915

0.26078351

0.32350417

0.25612512

0.2478

0.3150587

0.25947413

0.295440.29327448

0.336604

0.32925796

0.3150.29374042

0.2501

0.3144635

0.25663323

0.31701137

0.259326

0.37823832

0.2591987

England/N. Ireland (UK)

Literacy skills inequality (9th/1st decile)

Income inequality (Gini coefficient)

Low income inequalityLow skills inequality

Low income inequalityHigh skills inequality

High income inequalityHigh skills inequality

High income inequalityLow skills inequality

Avera

ge

Average

9


The level and distribution of skills differs markedly across countriesMuch of the variation in skills proficiency is observed within countries, so most countries have significant shares of struggling adults

SpainItaly

United StatesFranceIreland

Northern Ireland (UK)Poland

England/N. Ireland (UK)England (UK)

KoreaCanada

AustraliaAverage

Russian Federation³Germany

EstoniaAustria

Czech RepublicSlovak Republic

DenmarkNorwaySweden

NetherlandsFlanders (Belgium)

FinlandJapan

240 250 260 270 280 290 300

25th

Mean and .95 confidence interval for

mean 75th 95th 5th

Score

Skills of adultsNumeracy

7 points are roughly equal to one year of education

ItalySpain

FranceIrelandPoland

Northern Ireland (UK)Austria

United StatesGermanyDenmark

England/N. Ireland (UK)Korea

England (UK)AverageCanada

Slovak RepublicCzech Republic

Russian Federation³Flanders (Belgium)

EstoniaNorwaySweden

AustraliaNetherlands

FinlandJapan

240 250 260 270 280 290 300

25th


mean 75th 95th 5th

Score

Skills of adultsLiteracy

7 points are roughly equal to one year of education

ItalySpain

FranceIrelandPoland

Northern Ireland (UK)Austria

United StatesGermanyDenmark

England/N. Ireland (UK)Korea

England (UK)AverageCanada

Slovak RepublicCzech Republic

Russian Federation³Flanders (Belgium)

EstoniaNorwaySweden

AustraliaNetherlands

FinlandJapan

100 150 200 250 300 350 400

25th


mean 75th 95th 5th

Score

Skills of adultsLiteracy

15

Evolution of employment in occupational groups defined by level of skills proficiency

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

-10

-5

0

5

10

15 Occupations with scores in or near upper half of Level 3

Occupations with scores in or near lower half of Level 3

Occupations with scores in or near upper half of Level 2

Occupations with scores in or near lower half of Level 2

Percent

16

PolandIreland

Slovak RepublicEstonia

KoreaUnited States

AustriaCzech Republic

AverageFlanders (Belgium)

JapanEngland/N. Ireland (UK)

GermanyCanada

AustraliaDenmark

NorwayNetherlands

FinlandSweden

100 80 60 40 20 0 20 40 60 80 100

Level 22 Level 32

Young adults (16-24 year-olds) All adults (16-65 year-olds)

Proficiency in problem solving in technology-rich environments

%

Adults at Level 3 can• Complete tasks involving multiple applications, a large number of steps, impasses, and the discovery and use of ad hoc commands in a novel environment. • Establish a plan to arrive at a solution and monitor its implementation as they deal with unexpected outcomes and impasses.

Adults at Level 2 can complete problems that have explicit criteria for success, a small number of applications, and several steps and operators. They can monitor progress towards a solution and handle unexpected outcomes or impasses.

17

New technologiesPercentage of workers who reported the introduction of new process or technologies in their current workplace during the previous three years that affected their work

Source: European Working Conditions Survey, 2010. See Tables A1.7a and A1.7b.

Percent

Sw

ed

en

Fin

lan

d

De

nm

ark

No

rwa

y

Un

ite

d K

ing

do

m

Ne

the

rla

nd

s

Ma

lta

Ko

rea

Esto

nia

Ire

lan

d

Latv

ia

Fra

nce

Lu

xe

mb

ou

rg

Ave

rag

e

Cro

ati

a

Cze

ch

Re

pu

bli

c

Slo

va

k R

ep

ub

lic

Be

lgiu

m

Ge

rma

ny

Au

str

ia

Po

rtu

ga

l

Slo

ve

nia

Gre

ece

Ita

ly

Lit

hu

an

ia

Mo

nte

ne

gro

Hu

ng

ary

Tu

rke

y

Sp

ain

Bu

lga

ria

Ma

ce

do

nia

Ro

ma

nia

Alb

an

ia

Po

lan

d20

10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60Low-skilled clerical High-skilled clerical Low-skilled manual High-skilled manual Total

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Successful integration is not simply a matter of time. In some countries, the time elapsed since immigrants arrived appears to make little difference to their proficiency in literacy and numeracy, suggesting either that the incentives to learn the language of the receiving country are not strong or that policies that encourage learning the language of the receiving country are of limited effectiveness

Foreign-language immigrants with low levels of education tend to have low skills

Irelan

d

Slova

k Republic

Czech

Republic

Australi

a

Engla

nd/N. Ir

eland (U

K)Sp

ain

Estonia

Canad

aIta

ly

Austria

Averag

e

German

y

United St

ates

Flanders

(Belgi

um)

France

DenmarkKorea

Norway

Netherlands

Finlan

d

Sweden

Japan

Poland

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

Native-born

Literacy proficiencyby immigration background

Irelan

d

Slova

k Republic

Czech

Republic

Australi

a

Engla

nd/N. Ir

eland (U

K)Sp

ain

Estonia

Canad

aIta

ly

Austria

Averag

e

German

y

United St

ates

Flanders

(Belgi

um)

France

DenmarkKorea

Norway

Netherlands

Finlan

d

Sweden

Japan

Poland

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

Native-born Foreign-born - < 5 years

172


Irelan

d

Slova

k Republic

Czech

Republic

Australi

a

Engla

nd/N. Ir

eland (U

K)Sp

ain

Estonia

Canad

aIta

ly

Austria

Averag

e

German

y

United St

ates

Flanders

(Belgi

um)

France

DenmarkKorea

Norway

Netherlands

Finlan

d

Sweden

Japan

Poland

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

Native-born Foreign-born - < 5 yearsForeign-born - 5 years and more

172


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Some countries have made significant progress in improving skills proficiency

240 245 250 255 260 265 270 275 280 285 290 295 300Score

Literacy skills in younger and older generations

Avera

ge 1

6-2

4 y

ear-o

lds

KOREA

Germany

Norway

Avera

ge 5

5-6

5 y

ear-o

lds

Spain

Finland

France

US

UK

Adults at Level 4/5 in literacy

12.6 million16-24 year-olds scoring at Level

4/5

Au

stra

lia, 4

%

Germany, 9%

Kore

a, 6

%Poland, 5%

Aust

ria,

1%

Canada, 4%

Cze

ch R

epublic,

4% Estonia, 0.2%

Flanders (Belgium), 1%

France, 5%

Ireland, 0.3%Italy, 2%

Japan, 21%Norw

ay, 0.5%

Slovak Republic, 0.4%Spain, 1%Sweden, 1%

Engl

and/

N. I

rela

nd

(UK)

4%

Pola

nd ,

3%

Austr

alia,

3%

Germany, 4%

Ireland, 0.2%

Kore

a, 1

%

Net

herl

ands

. 2%

7.9 million55-65 year-olds scoring at Level 4/5

Denmark, 0.5%

Finla

nd, 1%

Those entering the job market Those nearing retirement

26


Formal education plays a key role in developing foundation skills…

EstoniaPoland

KoreaIrelandCanada

Slovak RepublicNorthern Ireland (UK)

JapanAustria

United StatesAverage

GermanyEngland/N. Ireland (UK)

England (UK)DenmarkAustralia

Flanders (Belgium)Finland

Czech RepublicNorwaySweden

Netherlands

70 50 30 10 10 30 50 70

Level 22 Level 3

Below upper secondary Tertiary

PercentPercent

Problem solving proficiencyby educational attainment

28


… but more education does not automatically translate into better skills

29

Mean literacy proficiency and distribution of literacy scores, by

educational attainment

Lower than upper secondary

Upper secondary

Tertiary

100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375 400

Italy

Score

25th percentile

Mean75th

percentile

Lower than upper secondary

Upper secondary

Tertiary

100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375 400

Japan

Score

Qualifications don’t alwaysequal skills

Level 2Level 1 and below

30


Success is increasingly about building skills beyond formal education

31

Level 2

15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55 57 59 61 63 65240

250

260

270

280

290

300

310

Literacy skills and age

Age

Score

Literacy unadjusted

Numeracy unadjusted

Numeracy adjusted

Literacy adjusted

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Likelihood of participating in adult education and training, by level of literacy proficiency

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4/5

Reference group: Below Level 1

Odds Ratio

Lessons from

strong performers

High quality initial education and lifelong learning• Investing in high quality

early childhood education and initial schooling, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds

• Financial support targeted at disadvantage

• Opportunities and incentives to continued development of proficiency, both outside work and at the workplace.

Lessons from

strong performers

Make learning everybody’s business• Governments, employers,

workers and parents need effective and equitable arrangements as to who does and pays for what, when and how

• Recognise that individuals with poor skills are unlikely to engage in education on their own and tend to receive less employer-sponsored training .

Lessons from

strong performers

Effective links between learning and work• Emphasis on workbased

learning allows people to develop hard skills on modern equipment and soft skills through real-world experience

• Employer engagement in education and training with assistance to SMEs

• Strengthen relevance of learning, both for workplace and workers broader employability .

Lessons from

strong performers

Allow workers to adapt learning to their lives• Flexibility in content

and delivery (part-time, flexible hours, convenient location)

• Distance learning and open education resources .

Lessons from

strong performers

Identify those who can benefit from learning most• Disadvantaged adults

need to be offered and encouraged to improve their learning

• Foreign-language migrants

• Older adults• Show how adults can

benefit from improved skills, both economically and socially .

Lessons from

strong performers

Improve transparency• Easy-to-find

information about adult education activities

• Combination of easily searchable, up-to-date online information and personal guidance and counselling services

• Less educated workers tend to be less aware of the opportunities

• Recognise and certify skills proficiency .

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Putting skills to effective useSkills will only translate into better economic and social outcomes if they are used effectively

Use of skills at work

Reading at work

Writing at work

Numeracy at work

ICT at work Problem solving at

work

1.4

1.6

1.8

2

2.2

2.4

Average

United States

Italy

Japan

United Kingdom

Most frequent use = 4

Least frequent use = 0

Ind

ex o

f use

The use of information-processing skills at work, by establishment size

Reading at work

Writing at work

Numeracy at work

ICT at work Problem solving

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

2.2

2.4

1-10 employees

11-50 employees

51-250 employees

251-1000 employees

1000+ employees

Most frequent use = 4

Least frequent use = 0

Ind

ex o

f use

Austria

Czech Republic

Germany

Italy

Average

Australia

Norway

Flanders (Belgium)

Poland

England

Netherlands

Finland

0 10 20 30 40

Under-skilled

Over-skilled

%%

Percentage of workers who are over/under qualified over/under-skilled in literacy

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

Under-qualifica-tionOver-qualifica-tion

%%

43

Labour productivity and the use of reading skills at work

1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2 2.1 2.2 2.33

3.2

3.4

3.6

3.8

4

4.2

4.4

4.6

3.89385903480046

3.94352167248753

3.83514196109219

3.39450839351136

3.97968165390196

3.25424296870549

3.87328217711172

4.021773869387244.21656219494637

3.81990771652034

3.72810016726723

3.39114704580865

4.09100566095659

4.4188406077966

3.26575941076705

3.49650756146648

3.8607297110406 3.94545778151438

4.09767235231478

3.85439389259152

Use of reading skills at work

(log

) Lab

ou

r p

rod

uct

ivit

y

Slope = 1.118 (0.407)R2 = 0.296

Adjusted predictionSlope = 1.643 (0.504)R2 = 0.371

44


Equal skills don’t always imply equal opportunitiesGender differences in the use of literacy and numeracy skills are partly due to the fact that men appear to be slightly more proficient but also that they are more commonly employed in full-time jobs, where skills are used more intensively.

45

Gender gap in wages and in the use of problem-solving skills at work

-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 300

5

10

15

20

25

Percentage difference in the use of problem-solving skills at work (men minus women)

Perc

enta

ge d

iffere

nce

betw

een m

en’s

and

wom

en’s

wages (

men m

inus w

om

en)

Slope 0.840 (0.199)R2 = 0.472

Adjusted prediction Slope 0.068 (0.123)R2 = 0.015

Lessons from

strong performers

Guidance• Timely data about

demand for and supply of skills

• Competent personnel who have the latest labour-market information at their fingertips to steer learners

• Qualifications that are coherent and easy to interpret .

Lessons from

strong performers

Flexible labour-markets• Labour-market

arrangements that facilitate effective skill use and address skill mismatches

• Encourage mobility to optimise skill match .

Lessons from

strong performers

Help employers make better use of workers skills• Flexible work

arrangements that accommodate workers with care obligations and disabilities

• Encourage older workers to remain in the labour market

• Encourage employers to hire those who temporarily withdrew from the labour market .

Lessons from

strong performers

Help economies move up the value chain• Governments can

influence both employer competitiveness strategies and product-market strategies, which determine in what markets the company competes

• Strengthen 21st century skills

• Foster entrepreneurship.

50

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skilled for life - key findings from the survey of adult skills (andreas schleicher - special...

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