Have we the skills we need to succeed?

Here’s a sobering statistic: In around 20 of the world’s wealthiest countries, at least one in 10 adults can make sense of only basic texts. Ask them a question based on a piece of writing, and they’ll be able to answer only if the text is short, uses simple vocabulary and provides clues by repeating words used in the question.
OK, you’re thinking, not great, but at least the other nine must be able to read pretty well, right? Not so: That figure of one in 10 is just a minimum. In some of the world’s richest countries, more than a third of adults struggle with anything other than basic texts.
These findings come from a new report, the OECD Skills Outlook, released this morning and which, we’re guessing, will be all over today’s news. It represents a first attempt by the OECD to gauge literacy, numeracy and problem-solving abilities among adults and extends the work of PISA, which assesses the knowledge and skills of high school students. If you’re familiar with PISA, you’ll know its results are closely watched around the world, especially the relative rankings of the 70 or so countries that take part. The new adult skills survey, PIACC, is likely to attract similar interest, although it covers a much smaller group of countries, around 24. More...