Transcript literacy_for_the_21st_century_23sept13

Literacy for the
21st Century –
what will PIAAC
mean for Ireland?
23 September 2013
Agenda
PIAAC: An Overview with a
Focus on Literacy
• William Thorn, Senior Analyst, Education Directorate, OECD
A New Approach to Further
Education and Training
• Paul O’Toole, CEO, SOLAS
Building Healthy Adult Skills in
Ireland
• Inez Bailey, Director, National Adult Literacy Agency
PIAAC: AN OVERVIEW WITH
A FOCUS ON LITERACY
William Thorn, OECD
[email protected]
Objectives
• Provide some background to PIAAC
regarding:
– Its origins
– Its objectives,
– Features of the assessment of literacy
– The presentation of results, and
– Its output.
Origins
• 1980s - early 1990s
– interest in literacy levels of workforce
– ‘competence’ movement
– Developments in large-scale testing
• Development of international adult
literacy/skills surveys:
– IALS (1994, 1996, 1998): 21 countries
(including Ireland in 1994)
– ALL (2003, 2006): 13 countries
Origins
• Work on PIAAC began in early 2000s
– Updating measures to increase relevance to
the digital world
– Expansion of the range of skills about which
information collected (e.g. ‘generic’ skills)
– Interest in the ‘demand’ for skills in addition
to supply
– Measurement of ‘human capital’ rather than
‘literacy’
Objectives
• Design of PIAAC finalised in 2007
• Broad objectives :
– Provide high quality comparable information on
the level and distribution of key information
processing skills in the adult population
– Show the relationship of these skills to individual
and social ‘outcomes’
– Better understand the processes through which
skills are gained, maintained and lost over the
lifecycle
Design features: content
• Direct assessment of key information processing skills
– Literacy (including reading components), numeracy, problem
solving in technology-rich environments (PS-TRE)
– Linked to IALS and ALL in domains of literacy and numeracy
• Information on the use of literacy, numeracy and
problem solving at work and elsewhere
• Information on use of a range of other generic skills at
work
– Interaction, organisation (self and others), learning and physical
skills
• Information on antecedents and outcomes
Links to previous adult surveys
PIAAC
Literacy (combined prose and
document)
ALL (2003-2006)
IALS (1994-1998)
Literacy (rescaled to combine
prose and document)
Prose literacy
Literacy (rescaled to combine
prose and document)
Prose literacy
Document literacy
Document literacy
Reading components
Numeracy
Numeracy
Quantitative literacy
Problem solving in technologyrich environments
Problem solving
Design features
• Target population – 16-65 year olds resident in
national territory
• Sample: probability sample representative of
target population
• Household survey
• Computer delivery
– BQ – CAPI
– Assessment - CBA
Participation
• Round 1 (2008-2013)
– 24 countries
– Australia, Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Canada,
Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland,
France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovak Republic,
Spain, Sweden, UK (England, Nth Ireland), US,
Cyprus, Russian Federation
• Round 2 (2012-2015)
– 10 countries
– Chile, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, Lithuania, New
Zealand, Singapore, Slovenia, Turkey
Innovative elements
• Proficiency in information processing in ICT
environments
– Reading of digital texts
– Problem solving in technology rich environments
• Information regarding poor readers
– Reading components
• Richer information regarding the use of skills
– In particular, the use of generic skills
• Computer delivery
What is assessed?
• Literacy
– Reading components
• Numeracy
• Problem solving in technology-rich
environments
Literacy
• Defined as:
– the ability to understand, evaluate, use and
engage with written texts to participate in society,
to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s
knowledge and potential
• Three dimensions
– Content (text types)
– Cognitive strategies (what one does to gain
meaning)
– Context (situation in which reading takes place)
Content
• Medium
– Print-based
– Digital
• Format
– Continuous
– Non-continuous
– Mixed
– Multiple
Strategies and Context
• Cognitive strategies
– access and identify
– integrate and interpret
– evaluate and reflect
• Contexts
– work-related
– personal
– community and society
– education and training
Information on poor readers
• Reading components
– Print vocabulary
– Sentence comprehension
– Passage fluency
• Automaticity in these elements is
precondition for comprehension
Information on literacy practices
• Variety, frequency and complexity
• Reading
–
–
–
–
–
–
directions or instructions
letters, memos or e-mails
articles in newspapers, magazines or newsletters
articles in professional journals or scholarly publications
Books
Manuals or reference materials
– bills, invoices, bank statements or other financial
statements
– diagrams, maps or schematics
Information on literacy practices
• Writing
– letters, memos or e-mails
– articles for newspapers, magazines or
newsletters
– Reports
– fill in forms
Reporting
• Results presented on a 500 point scale
– test items and test-takers located on the same
scale
– Difficulty of items
– Proficiency of persons
Proficiency levels
• To help interpret results the scale divided
into proficiency levels
• Descriptors developed to summarise the
underlying characteristics of items in each
level in terms of the literacy framework
• Descriptive not normative
• 6 proficiency levels in literacy
Proficiency levels
Level
Score Range
Less than level 1
Lower than 176
Level 1
176-225
Level 2
226-275
Level 3
276-325
Level 4
326-375
Level 5
376 and above
Level 1
Most of the tasks at this level require the respondent to
read relatively short digital or print continuous, noncontinuous, or mixed texts to locate a single piece of
information that is identical to or synonymous with the
information given in the question or directive. Some
tasks, such as those involving non-continuous texts, may
require the respondent to enter personal information
onto a document. Little, if any, competing information is
present. Some tasks may require simple cycling through
more than one piece of information. Knowledge and skill
in recognising basic vocabulary determining the meaning
of sentences, and reading paragraphs of text is expected.
Level 5
• At this level, tasks may require the respondent to
search for and integrate information across
multiple, dense texts; construct syntheses of
similar and contrasting ideas or points of view; or
evaluate evidence based arguments. Application
and evaluation of logical and conceptual models of
ideas may be required to accomplish tasks.
Evaluating reliability of evidentiary sources and
selecting key information is frequently a
requirement. Tasks often require respondents to
be aware of subtle, rhetorical cues and to make
high-level inferences or use specialised
background knowledge.
What will PIAAC tell us?
• Proficiency of the adult population
– Comparable across countries
• Distribution of proficiency
– e.g. by age, gender, education, immigration status
• Relationship to factors influencing
proficiency
– E.g. education, literacy practices, adult learning
• Proficiency and outcomes
– E.g. employment, unemployment, wages, health
status, trust in others
Output
• October 2013
– International Report
– Public use data set
– Data explorer
– Data analyser
• 2014-2015
– Series of thematic reports
The first international report
• Skills Outlook will contain six chapters
– Context: skills and trends in technology, the labour market an
society
– Cross-country comparisons of the level and distribution of adult
skills
– The distribution of proficiency among various sociodemographic groups in different countries
– The skill proficiency of workers and the use of their skills in the
workplace
– Developing and sustaining information processing skills
– The link between information processing skills and outcomes
• Readers companion
– Overview of what is measured and how the survey was
implemented
Information accessible at:
http://www.oecd.org/site/piaac/
Thank you
[email protected]
A New Approach to
Further Education and
Training
Paul O’Toole, Director General, FÁS
Building Healthy Adult
Skills in Ireland
Inez Bailey, Director,
National Adult Literacy Agency
Building Healthy Adult
Skills in Ireland
Using PIACC to achieve a shift in understanding from ...
Three Rs (reading,
writing, arithmetic)
attained in school
Core competences
acquired and
developed
throughout life
Health of the Nation’s Skills
PIAAC – A health check on adult skills in Ireland:
• Current skill levels
• Skill loss
• Skills mismatch
It will inform three key groups:
• Policy Makers
• Providers and Practitioners
• People
alongside other data and information.
Informing Policy Makers
Further
Education
and Training
Raising
adult
skills
Citizenship
Family
Health
Employment
Informing Providers and
Practitioners
Programme and
Curriculum
Development
Assessment
3 purposes
Professional
Development
Literacy and numeracy tutors
Vocational trainers
Subject teachers
Informing People
Awareness – skills checker
Motivation
• Children, income, employment, health
Options
• Lifelong learning opportunities including informal,
self directed, classroom
Questions and Answers
Chaired by Richard Curran
Further information
NALA
Sandford Lodge
Sandford Close
Ranelagh
Dublin 6
Tel: (01) 412 7900
http://facebook.com/nalaireland
http://twitter.com/nalaireland
http://www.youtube.com/user/
nationaladultliterac
Website: www.nala.ie
Distance learning website: www.writeon.ie