Abstract
This article analyses comparative data from the 1994–1998 International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and the 2012 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). At the micro level, the author considers factors involved in the development of an individual person’s literacy from a lifecycle perspective. At the macro level, he investigates trends in literacy proficiency profiles for countries that participated in both the IALS and PIAAC studies. In a number of countries, small average declines in literacy were recorded. This apparent stagnation in overall literacy at the population level in so many member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) merits a closer look at the trend data made available from IALS and PIAAC. The aim of this research is to understand the determinants of literacy proficiency in terms of (1) how they may be affecting the development of literacy from an individual lifecycle perspective, and (2) how they may be affecting the development of national profiles of literacy proficiency as countries’ sociodemographic compositions, sociocultural practices and economies change over time. There are few other comparative data like these that can help to improve insights on what drives the development and maintenance of literacy in adult populations. The data suggest that macro trends in literacy practices in work-related contexts may be on the decline, an impression the author discusses in relation to the observed stagnation in literacy profiles across many of the countries for which trend data are available. He considers the implications of his findings in relation to the upskilling and deskilling of occupations, changes in the distribution of work tasks, and the continued measurement of practices in PIAAC.
Résumé
Les facteurs qui influent au microniveau et au macroniveau dans différents pays sur les degrés d’alphabétisme des adultes – Cet article analyse des données comparatives de l’Enquête internationale sur l’alphabétisation des adultes (EIAA) de 1994 à 1998 et du Programme pour l’évaluation internationale des compétences des adultes (PIAAC-Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) de 2012. Au microniveau, l’auteur examine les facteurs liés à l’alphabétisation individuelle d’une personne sous l’angle du cycle de vie. Au macroniveau, il se penche sur les tendances associées aux niveaux d’alphabétisme des adultes dans les pays ayant participé à l’Enquête internationale sur l’alphabétisation des adultes et au Programme pour l’évaluation internationale des compétences des adultes. On a constaté de légers reculs moyens de l’alphabétisation dans un certain nombre de ces pays. Cette apparente stagnation de l’alphabétisation en général au niveau de la population dans un si grand nombre des pays membres de l’Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques (OCDE) mérite que l’on étudie de plus près les données relatives à ces tendances, extraites de l’Enquête internationale sur l’alphabétisation des adultes (EIAA) et du Programme pour l’évaluation internationale des compétences des adultes (PIAAC). Cette recherche a pour objectif de comprendre les déterminants du niveau d’alphabétisme et plus précisément (1) comment ces facteurs peuvent influer sur l’alphabétisation du point de vue du cycle de vie d’une personne et (2) comment ils sont susceptibles de se répercuter sur le développement des profils nationaux d’alphabétisation envisagés en tant que compositions sociodémographiques, pratiques socioculturelles et mutations des économies au fil du temps de ces pays. Il existe peu d’autres données comparatives de ce type qui puissent contribuer à mieux comprendre les facteurs d’alphabétisation et d’entretien de l’alphabétisme au sein des populations adultes. Au macroniveau, ces données indiquent que les pratiques d’alphabétisation ont tendance à décliner dans les contextes liés au travail – une impression que l’auteur examine en lien avec la stagnation observée concernant les profils d’alphabétisation dans beaucoup des pays pour lesquels des données tendancielles sont disponibles. Il analyse ce qu’impliquent les résultats de ses recherches dans l’optique de la qualification et la déqualification des emplois, des mutations de la répartition des tâches professionnelles et de la mesure continue des pratiques dans le cadre du Programme pour l’évaluation internationale des compétences des adultes (PIAAC).
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Notes
Annual Labour Force Surveys (LFS) are mandatory in all member states of the European Union, but also conducted in a number of other countries in other world regions. Their purpose is to calculate a country’s unemployment rate according to the definitions provided by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The “Levels” referred to here are the PIAAC levels defined by the OECD. PIAAC uses a total of six proficiency levels, ranging from Level 1 to Level 5, with an additional “below Level 1” category at the bottom end of the scale. For descriptions of each of these levels, see OECD (2013a, pp. 66–67).
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Desjardins, R. Micro and macro drivers affecting adult literacy proficiency profiles across countries. Int Rev Educ 66, 289–340 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-020-09842-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-020-09842-1