Social inequalities, possession and use of skills and educational participation of adults: a reading of the respective relations based on the PIAAC results

Abstract

The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is the leading international multicycle large-scale assessment in adult education. It is promoted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and developed by an international consortium of public and private research institutions in around 35 countries. Through the Survey of Adult Skills, its main component, PIAAC aims to comparatively assess the cognitive and professional competencies of adults, by testing the proficiency of respondents in three domains: literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem-solving. This paper presents PIAAC’s general goals and the main features of the Survey of Adult Skills, and discusses some of the results of Cycle 1, by taking into consideration the performance observed in the European countries that participated in the study. Although Portugal started its participation in PIAAC’s Cycle 1, the country didn´t conclude it. Nevertheless, Portugal is now taking part in the study’s new cycle. Even if there is no data available for Portugal, the fact is that the results for Cycle 1 offer a rich and diversified perspective on how social inequalities – which are linked to age, educational, socio-economic and gender differences – influence the distribution and use of literacy skills. These, in turn, are intrinsically associated with the levels and ways through which participation in adult education and training occurs.