The OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), also known internationally as the Survey of Adult Skills, was conducted during 2022 and 2023, across 31 OECD countries. The survey was conducted in Ireland by the Central Statistics Office between June 2022 and September 2023.
The main purpose of PIAAC is to estimate the level of literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem solving proficiency among the adult population aged 16 to 65 years old. The survey produces estimates of proficiency broken down by variables such as age, gender, region, educational attainment, labour market participation, and economic sector. The 2022/2023 PIAAC survey is a follow up the 2012 PIAAC Cycle 1.
The Central Statistics Office wishes to thank the participating households for their co-operation in agreeing to take part in PIAAC and for facilitating the collection of the relevant data.
PIAAC data was collected from a sample of households selected from the population of private households in Ireland. Institutional households, (e.g. nursing homes, barracks, boarding schools, hotels etc.) were not covered by the survey.
The main sample of 10,500 households and reserve sample of 4,900 households were selected using stratified cluster sampling from the Census population frame. In total, 11,800 households were released for fieldwork with a return of 3,833 completed background questionnaires from households.
One eligible person aged between 16 and 65 was randomly selected from each household to participate in PIAAC.
The survey started in September 2022 and field work continued until middle of June 2023.
The data was collected by a team of 50 Field Interviewers and 5 Field coordinators (each with a team of 10 interviewers). Interviewers were provided with a map of each of their interview areas as well as a listing of the address of each of the selected households. Interviewers were trained in September 2022 on the main concepts, doorstep techniques and the technical standards and guidelines required by the OECD. Training included a thorough review of the questionnaire as it appeared on the tablet as well as a detailed examination of the more complex elements of the assessment .
The survey field work was conducted using a team of interviewers who called to selected households and used Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) software to conduct the interviews and allow the respondents to complete the assessments. This enabled the use of extensive checks in the OECD interviewing software to make sure accurate and coherent data was collected. It also ensured that respondents were only asked relevant questions, that all applicable questions were answered (although it was possible for many questions to accept a “Don’t know” or “Refused to answer” reply) and that specific answers were within valid ranges.
Information was collected directly from selected respondents - proxy responses from other members of the household were not accepted.
PIAAC was conducted from September 2022 to June 2023.
The background questionnaire for PIAAC Cycle 2 collected information in six main areas:
Please see Background Questionnaire Part 1 (PDF 1,820KB) and Part 2 (PDF 1,295KB) .
In each of the three domains assessed, proficiency is considered a continuum of ability involving the mastery of information-processing skills that allow one to solve tasks of increasing complexity. The results of the assessments are represented on a 500-point scale. The proficiency of respondents and the difficulty of the assessment items are expressed on the same scale. At each point on the scale, an individual with a proficiency score of that value has a 67% chance of successfully completing test items located at the same point. This individual will also be able to complete more difficult items (those with higher values on the scale), albeit with a lower probability of success, and will have greater chances of successfully completing easier items (those with lower values on the scale).
To illustrate this point, Table 7.1 shows how the probability of completing tasks of greater and lesser difficulty varies for a person with a proficiency score of 300 on the literacy scale. As can be seen, such a person will successfully complete items whose difficulty matches their proficiency (300 points on the literacy scale) 67% of the time; their chances of completing easier items (with a difficulty value of 250) are as high as 95%, but the chances of correctly answering more difficult items (with a difficulty value of 350) drop to 28%.
Table 7.1 Probability of successfully completing items of varying difficulty for a person scoring 300 on the literacy scale | ||||
Item difficulty (literacy scale) | ||||
200 | 250 | 300 | 350 | |
Probability of success | 0.97 | 0.95 | 0.67 | 0.28 |
The proficiency scale in each of the domains assessed can be described in relation to the items that are located at the different points on the scale according to their difficulty. These characteristics include the difficulty of the item and its other key features, in terms for example of the cognitive processes needed to engage with it or the context in which the task was framed.
The scales have been divided into “proficiency levels” defined by particular score-point thresholds. Six proficiency levels are defined for literacy and numeracy (Below Level 1 and Levels 1 through 5) and five for adaptive problem solving (Below Level 1 and Levels 1 through 4). To help interpretation of the results, the experts who designed the assessments have developed a summary description of characteristics of the types of tasks that adults at a particular level can successfully complete. In other words, they offer a summary of what adults with proficiency scores within a range in a particular domain can do.
Except for the lowest level (Below Level 1), a person scoring at the bottom of the range defining the level has a 50% chance of successfully completing tasks located at that level. This probability will, of course, vary with the difficulty of each particular item. To make a concrete example, a person with a score at the bottom of Level 2 would give a correct answer to about 50% of items in a hypothetical assessment containing only items of Level 2 difficulty. The share of correct answers to such a test would be much higher for a person whose proficiency is at the top of Level 2. The “average” individual with a proficiency score around the mid-point of Level 2 will successfully answer about 67% of the items in this hypothetical assessment.
Panels of experts with subject-matter expertise developed the conceptual frameworks for each domain, guided the development and selection of items, and informed the interpretation of results. The frameworks define and describe the underlying latent skills the assessment aims to measure. To inform item development, they identify the key task dimensions that should be used to build the assessment and report results. Across the domains, those dimensions focus on:
Content: the various representations of information, or types of materials and tools, that adults use to complete tasks.
Cognitive strategies: the information-processing strategies required to use specific materials to successfully meet task demands.
Contexts: the social and situational contexts in which tasks are embedded.
The PIAAC Cycle 2 Literacy proficiency scale describes what individuals can do at each of 6 levels of Literacy proficiency (levels "below level 1" to 5). Literacy is defined as "accessing, understanding, evaluating and reflecting on written texts in order to achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge and potential and to participate in society".
The individuals described in the PIAAC Cycle 2 Literacy proficiency scale share a number of core literacy skills that are required to take the assessment: they possess a minimal mastery of the language in which the assessment is administered (i.e., vocabulary, syntax, pragmatics) and they can decode printed words in the language with a minimal level of fluency. The proficiency scale describes adults' literacy skills beyond these core component abilities, which are required but not assessed per se. The assessment ranges from simple questions about single sentences or very short texts to tasks that require handling multiple pages of dense texts across several cycles of accessing, understanding and evaluating information.
The literacy scales make it possible not only to summarize the literacy proficiencies of the total population in each participating PIAAC country along with various subpopulations, but also to determine the relative difficulty of the literacy tasks that were developed and administered as part of the PIAAC assessment. That is, just as individuals receive an estimate of their proficiency according to their performance on the set of tasks they receive, each task receives a value according to its difficulty as determined by the performance of all the adults who responded to each task. To help us represent the distributions of people and tasks, each scale is divided in various levels. The literacy scale is divided into 6 levels including below level 1 and levels 1 through 5.
Description of what adults can do at each proficiency level in literacy | ||
Level |
Score range |
What adults can do at this level |
---|---|---|
Level 5 |
Equal to or higher than 376 points |
At Level 5, the assessment provides no direct information on what adults can do. This is mostly because feasibility concerns (especially with respect to testing time) precluded the inclusion of highly complex tasks involving complex interrelated goal structures, very long or complex document sets, or advanced access devices such as intact catalogues, deep menu structures or search engines. These tasks, however, form part of the construct of literacy in today's world, and future assessments aiming at a better coverage of the upper end of the proficiency scale may seek to include testing units tapping on literacy skills at Level 5. From the characteristics of the most difficult tasks at Level 4, some suggestions regarding what constitutes proficiency at Level 5 may be offered. Adults at Level 5 may be able to reason about the task itself, setting up reading goals based on complex and implicit requests. They can presumably search for and integrate information across multiple, dense texts containing distracting information in prominent positions. They are able to construct syntheses of similar and contrasting ideas or points of view; or evaluate evidence-based arguments and the reliability of unfamiliar information sources. Tasks at Level 5 may also require the application and evaluation of abstract ideas and relationships. Evaluating reliability of evidentiary sources and selecting not just topically relevant but also trustworthy information may be key to achievement. |
Level 4 |
326 to less than 376 points |
At Level 4, adults can read long and dense texts presented on multiple pages in order to complete tasks that involve access, understanding, evaluation and reflection about the text(s) contents and sources across multiple processing cycles. Adults at this level can infer what the task is asking based on complex or implicit statements. Successful task completion often requires the production of knowledge-based inferences. Texts and tasks at Level 4 may deal with abstract and unfamiliar situations. They often feature both lengthy contents and a large amount of distracting information, which is sometimes as prominent as the information required to complete the task. At this level, adults are able to reason based on intrinsically complex questions that share only indirect matches with the text contents, and/or require taking into consideration several pieces of information dispersed throughout the materials. Tasks may require evaluating subtle evidence-claims or persuasive discourse relationships. Conditional information is frequently present in tasks at this level and must be taken into consideration by the respondent. Response modes may involve assessing or sorting complex assertions. |
Level 3 |
276 to less than 326 points |
Adults at Level 3 are able to construct meaning across larger chunks of text or perform multi-step operations in order to identify and formulate responses. They can identify, interpret or evaluate one or more pieces of information, often employing varying levels of inferencing. They can combine various processes (accessing, understanding and evaluating) if required by the task. Adults at this level can compare and evaluate multiple pieces of information from the text(s) based on their relevance or credibility. Texts at this level are often dense or lengthy, including continuous, noncontinuous, mixed. Information may be distributed across multiple pages, sometimes arising from multiple sources that provide discrepant information. Understanding rhetorical structures and text signals becomes more central to successfully completing tasks, especially when dealing with complex digital texts that require navigation. The texts may include specific, possibly unfamiliar vocabulary and argumentative structures. Competing information is often present and sometimes salient, though no more than the target information. Tasks require the respondent to identify, interpret, or evaluate one or more pieces of information, and often require varying levels of inferencing. Tasks at Level 3 also often demand that the respondent disregard irrelevant or inappropriate text content to answer accurately. The most complex tasks at this level include lengthy or complex questions requiring the identification of multiple criteria, without clear guidance regarding what has to be done. |
Level 2 |
226 to less than 276 points |
At Level 2, adults are able to access and understand information in longer texts with some distracting information. They can navigate within simple multi-page digital texts to access and identify target information from various parts of the text. They can understand by paraphrasing or making inferences, based on single or adjacent pieces of information. Adults at Level 2 can consider more than one criterion or constraint in selecting or generating a response. The texts at this level can include multiple paragraphs distributed over one long or a few short pages, including simple websites. Noncontinuous texts may feature a two-dimension table or a simple flow diagram. Access to target information may require the use of signalling or navigation devices typical of longer print or digital texts. The texts may include some distracting information. Tasks and texts at this level sometimes deal with specific, possibly unfamiliar situations. Tasks require respondents to perform indirect matches between the text and content information, sometimes based on lengthy instructions. Some tasks statements provide little guidance regarding how to perform the task. Task achievement often requires the test taker to either reason about one piece of information or to gather information across multiple processing cycles. |
Level 1 |
176 to less than 226 points |
Adults at Level 1 are able to locate information on a text page, find a relevant link from a website, and identify relevant text among multiple options when the relevant information is explicitly cued. They can understand the meaning of short texts, as well as the organization of lists or multiple sections within a single page. The texts at level 1 may be continuous, noncontinuous, or mixed and pertain to printed or digital environments. They typically include a single page with up to a few hundred words and little or no distracting information. Noncontinuous texts may have a list structure (such as a web search engine results page) or include a small number of independent sections, possibly with pictorial illustrations or simple diagrams. Tasks at Level 1 involve simple questions providing some guidance as to what needs to be done and a single processing step. There is a direct, fairly obvious match between the question and target information in the text, although some tasks may require the examination of more than one piece of information. |
Below Level 1 |
Below 176 points |
Most adults at Below Level 1 are able to process meaning at the sentence level. Given a series of sentences that increase in complexity, they can tell if a sentence does or does not make sense either in terms of plausibility in the real world (i.e., sentences describing events that can vs. cannot happen), or in terms of the internal logic of the sentence (i.e., sentences that are meaningful vs. not). Most adults at this level are also able to read short, simple paragraphs and, at certain points in text, tell which word among two makes the sentence meaningful and consistent with the rest of the passage. Finally, they can access single words or numbers in very short texts in order to answer simple and explicit questions. The texts at Below Level 1 are very short and include no or just a few familiar structuring devices such as titles or paragraph headers. They do not include any distracting information nor navigation devices specific to digital texts (e.g., menus, links or tabs). Tasks Below Level 1 are simple and very explicit regarding what to do and how to do it. These tasks only require understanding at the sentence level or across two simple adjacent sentences. When the text involves more than one sentence, the task merely requires dealing with target information in the form of a single word or phrase. |
Description of what adults can do at each proficiency level in numeracy | ||
Level |
Score range |
What adults can do at this level |
---|---|---|
Level 5 |
Equal to or higher than 376 points |
Adults at Level 5 can use and apply problem solving strategies to analyse, evaluate, reason and critically reflect on complex and formal mathematical information, including dynamic representations. They demonstrate an understanding of statistical concepts and can critically reflect on whether a data set can be used to support or refute a claim. Adults at this level can determine the most appropriate graphical representation for relational data sets. |
Level 4 |
326 to less than 376 points |
Adults at Level 4 can use and apply a range of problem solving strategies to access, analyse, reason, and critically reflect on and evaluate a broad range of mathematical information that is often presented in unfamiliar contexts. Such information may not be presented in an explicit manner. Adults at this level can devise and implement strategies to solve multi-step problems. This may involve reasoning about how to integrate concepts from different mathematical content areas or applying more complex and formal mathematical procedures. Adults at this level can:
variables,
|
Level 3 |
276 to less than 326 points |
Adults at Level 3 can access, act on, use, reflect on and evaluate authentic mathematical contexts. This requires making judgements about how to use the given information when developing a solution to a problem. The mathematical information may be less explicit, embedded in contexts that are not always commonplace, and use representations and terminology that are more formal and involve greater complexity. Adults at this level can complete tasks where mathematical processes require the application of two or more steps and where multiple conditions need to be satisfied. Tasks may also require the use, integration or manipulation of multiple data sources in order to undertake the mathematical analyses necessary for the specific task. Adults at this level can:
|
Level 2 |
226 to less than 276 points |
Adults at Level 2 can access, act on and use mathematical information, and evaluate simple claims, in tasks set in a variety of authentic contexts. They are able to interpret and use information presented in slightly more complex forms (e.g. doughnut charts, stacked bar graphs or linear scales) that includes more formal terminology and more distracting information. Adults at this level can carry out multi-step mathematical processes. Adults at this level can:
|
Level 1 |
176 to less than 226 points |
Adults at Level 1 demonstrate number sense involving whole numbers, decimals, and common fractions and percentages. They can access, act on and use mathematical information located in slightly more complex representations set in authentic contexts where the mathematical content is explicit and uses informal mathematical terminology with little text and minimal distracting information. They can devise simple strategies using one or two steps to determine the solution. Adults at this level can:
|
Below Level 1 |
Below 176 points |
Adults performing Below Level 1 demonstrate elementary whole number sense and can access and use mathematical knowledge to solve single-step problems, where the information is presented using images or simple structured information set in authentic, commonplace contexts with little or no text or distracting information. The mathematical content is non-formal and explicit. Adults at this level can:
|
The APS proficiency scale is defined in terms of five proficiency levels: Levels 1 through 4 and below Level 1.
Description of what adults can do at each proficiency level in adaptive problem | ||
Level |
Score range |
What adults can do at this level |
---|---|---|
Level 4 |
Equal to or higher than 326 points |
Adults at this level are able to define the nature of problems in ill-structured and information-rich contexts. They integrate multiple sources of information and their interactions, identify and disregard irrelevant information, and formulate relevant cues. Adults identify and apply multi-step solutions towards one or more complex goals. They adapt the problem solving process to changes even if these changes are not obvious, occur unexpectedly, or require a major re-evaluation of the problem. Adults are able to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant changes, predict future developments of the problem situation, and consider multiple criteria simultaneously to judge whether the solution process is likely to lead to success. Adults at Level 4 engage in the following cognitive processes:
Adults at this level engage in the following metacognitive processes:
|
Level 3 |
276 to less than 326 points |
Adults at this level understand problems that are either more complex static problems or problems that have an average to high level of dynamics. They can solve problems with multiple constraints or problems that require the attainment of several goals in parallel. In problems that change and require adaptivity, adults deal with frequent and, to some extent, continuous changes. They discriminate between changes that are relevant and those that are less relevant or unrelated to the problem. Adults at this level can identify and apply multi-step solutions that integrate several important variables simultaneously and consider the impact of several problem elements on each other. In dynamically changing problems, they predict future developments in the problem situation based on information collected from past developments. They adapt their behaviour according to the predicted change. Adults at Level 3 engage in the following cognitive processes:
Adults at this level engage in the following metacognitive processes:
|
Level 2 |
226 to less than 276 points |
Adults at this level can identify and apply solutions that consist of several steps in problems that require considering one target variable to judge whether the problem has been solved. In dynamic problems that exhibit change, adults at this level can identify relevant information if they are prompted to specific aspects of the change or if changes are transparent, occur only one at a time, relate to a single problem feature, and are easily accessible. Problems at this level are presented in well-structured environments and contain only a few information elements with direct relevance to the problem. Minor impasses may be introduced but these can be resolved easily by adjusting the initial problem solving procedure. Adults at Level 2 engage in the following cognitive processes:
Adults at this level engage in the following metacognitive processes: |
Level 1 |
176 to less than 226 points |
Adults at this level are able to understand simple problems and develop and implement solutions to solve them. Problems contain a limited number of elements and little to no irrelevant information. Solutions at this level are simple and consist of a limited number of steps. Problems are embedded in a context that includes one or two sources of information and presents a single, explicitly defined goal. Adults at Level 1 engage in the following cognitive processes:
|
Below Level 1 |
Below 176 points |
Adults at this level understand very simple static problems situated within a clearly structured environment. Problems contain no invisible elements, no irrelevant information that might distract from the core of the problem, and typically only require a single step solution. Adults at this proficiency level are able to engage in basic cognitive processes required to solve problems if explicit support is given and if they are prompted to do so. |
This classification is derived from a single question and refers to educational standards that have been attained and can be compared in some measurable way. The question is phrased as follows: “What is the highest level of education or training you have ever successfully completed?”.
UNESCO developed the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) to facilitate comparisons of education statistics and indicators across countries on the basis of uniform and internationally agreed definitions. The current revision of ISCED used in this release is ISCED 2011 (ISCED11).
For information on the ISCED11 classification, see: International Standard of Education (ISCED).
The primary classification used for the PIAAC results is the ILO (International Labour Office) Labour Force classification. The ILO classification distinguishes the following main subgroups of the population:
Persons who worked in the week before the survey for one hour or more for payment or profit, including work on the family farm or business and all persons who had a job but were not at work because of illness, holidays etc. in the week.
Persons who, in the week before the survey, were without work and available for work within the next two weeks, and had taken specific steps, in the preceding four weeks, to find work.
All other persons.
Every survey produces an estimate of where the true value of the population lies along a particular dimension (e.g. literacy proficiency), and every survey estimate is subject to some degree of uncertainty or error because it is based on a sample and not the entire population. The estimated means and percentages contained in this report are accompanied by their standard errors (S.E.) to provide an indication of how close they are to the true population value. Statistically, the true population value is said to lie within a number of standard errors of the estimate with a certain degree of certainty. Example: If males in the PIAAC survey had a mean score for literacy proficiency of 250, with a standard error of 0.9, then it could be said with 95% certainty that the actual population mean score for males lies somewhere between 248.2 and 251.8 (250 ± (0.9*2)).
In this report and the OECD international report, differences between means or percentages are sometimes described as being ‘statistically significant’ at the 5% level. This means that the observed difference between two estimates is not due to chance and would most likely be observed again 95 times out of 100 if the survey were repeated.
Standard errors are used to determine whether there are ‘statistically significant’ differences between estimates. Statistically significant differences give an indication that the difference between two estimates has not occurred by chance and that the difference between two numbers would be likely to occur again if the survey was repeated. However, it is important to note that statistical significance does not necessarily imply that the difference observed between two numbers is of practical relevance or application in the real world.
Please note that rounding of figures is used throughout this release.
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