MARK MORGAN SEPT 26 TH 2014 Surveys of Literacy Levels: Results and Implications

Overview How international studies of literacy changed perceptions and definitions International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS): 1994 Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC): 2012 Possible Developments for Research

IALS Major innovations: Literacy levels Literacy domains: Prose, Document and Quantitative Literacy Canada, Germany, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, US Literacy practices and relationship to critical factors including level of education 25% at level 1!!!! Issue of response rates: Which direction is bias?

PIAAC Broader assessment: ‘Real world’ Literacy tasks ‘Real’ numeracy tasks: Graph showing births in the US every ten years..in which decades was there a decline? Problem solving in context of technology. Example of websites and selection of the appropriate one and what information can be extracted

Literacy Results in PIAAC Ireland close to average of all countries Well behind Japan and Finland 17.9% at Level 1 But even at level 1, 95% of word meanings correct (vocabulary) Ireland significantly below international average on numeracy When PIAAC and IALS linked..no change

Influential Factors Gender: No significant differences or in other countries Contrast with school achievement and ‘reversal’ of gender effects…future Age: Dependent on when access improved Effects of age per se: Cognitive decline but effects of compensation and individual differences

Contd Adult education (low participation in Ireland in IALS) Related to literacy level…and in every country Findings from GUI….Holistic nature of development. Association of social-emotional development with learning and literacy Interaction with life-skills