It seems like something positive is happening when we are ranked among the likes of Germany, Austria, Belgium and Britain, but not unfortunately when it has to do with being measured as only average for literacy. We are also in good company including England, France and Northern Ireland when it comes to being considered numerate, but this time for being a bit below the average. The statistics that place us in this lacklustre position come from the OECD and from the Central Statistics Office via the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies.
The study is an ambitious effort to provide a more coherent and accurate picture of the skill sets possessed by typical adults aged between 16 and 65 in 24 countries including Ireland. The power of the new study comes from adopting the same methodologies and statistical approach in each of the participant countries.
Literacy and numeracy were included in the study but for the first time the organisers also included skills related to “problem solving in technology-rich environments” – meaning the study subjects were offered access to computer facilities. Achieving accuracy and consistency in the measurement of something as indefinable as a competency is commendable, but unfortunately the cold factuality of the resultant numbers means there is no place left to hide when it comes to what the figures are telling us.
We landed firmly in the average range for literacy and lower than average in numeracy and technology-based problem solving, this in a country which has aspirations to develop a knowledge economy. There is no sin in being considered average, the bell curve for educational performance places more people in that segment than any other. The result raises questions however about whether mainstream education is capable of imparting these competencies upon us or whether there is some other effect that prevents us from being ranked higher. Proper resourcing of our educational system remains an imperative however no matter who sits next to us in the ranking tables.
