3. Self-Assessed Numeracy and Up-Skilling

• How did the self-assessed numeracy skill of respondents compare with their measured numeracy skill?
• What differences were there in the patterns of up-skilling¹⁰ between those with low numeracy skill and those with higher numeracy skill?
• What differences were there in the patterns of up-skilling between those with low self-assessed numeracy skill and those with higher self-assessed numeracy skill?

This section examines these questions.

Numeracy and self-assessed numeracy

Numeracy is the ability to read and process mathematical and numeric information in diverse situations. Numeracy skill was measured in the ALL survey only. The graphs and analysis in this section are divided into two categories: low (levels 1 or 2) and higher (levels 3, 4 or 5).

Numeracy is the only domain for which respondents to the ALL survey supplied a self-assessment of their competence.

The distribution of numeracy and self-assessed numeracy skill among the adult population of New Zealand is shown in Table 3.1. 

In this section the following definitions of self-assessed numeracy skill are used.

• Higher self-assessed numeracy skill refers to those respondents who either strongly agreed or agreed with the statement “I am good with numbers and calculations”.
• Low self-assessed numeracy skill refers to those respondents who either strongly disagreed or disagreed with the statement “I am good with numbers and calculations”.

Table 3.1 shows that around 14% of New Zealand’s adult population assessed themselves as having low numeracy skill and were measured as having low numeracy skill. In contrast, around 37% assessed themselves as having higher numeracy skill but were measured as having low numeracy skill. These two percentages add to show that around 51% of New Zealand’s adult population were measured as having low numeracy skill.

Table 3.1 also shows that:

• New Zealand adults tended to over-estimate their numeracy skill; for example, while around four-fifths of New Zealand adults assessed themselves as having higher numeracy skill, only around half were measured as having higher numeracy skill
  
• some New Zealand adults underestimated their numeracy skill; for example, of those who assessed themselves as having low numeracy skill, around a quarter were measured as having higher numeracy skill.

Numeracy, self-assessed numeracy and up-skilling

The ALL survey collected information on respondents’ participation in up-skilling and measured their numeracy skill. It also collected information on respondents’ self-assessed numeracy skill. Analysing the associations, in the ALL data, between these three characteristics: participation in up-skilling, numeracy and self-assessed numeracy skill adds important information to an existing body of research.¹¹

Figure 3.1 shows the percentages of each of the subpopulations defined by measured numeracy skill and self-assessed numeracy skill who self-reported as participating in various types of up-skilling. 

In the graphs and analysis provided in this section the following definitions are used.

• Formal up-skilling refers to full-time or part-time participation in any course that is part of a programme of study leading toward a certificate, degree or diploma (for example, participation in a plumbing apprenticeship).
• Non-formal up-skilling refers to participation in any course that is not part of a programme of study leading toward a certificate, degree or diploma (for example, participation in a photography course at night-school).
• Self-directed or none refers to either no participation in any up-skilling activities, or participation in up-skilling activities such as guided tours, trade fairs or learning from instructional media.

Respondents who reported undertaking up-skilling, both formally and in any other way, were recorded as undertaking up-skilling formally. Respondents who reported undertaking up-skilling non-formally and in a self-directed way were reported as undertaking up-skilling non-formally.

Figure 3.1: Numeracy, self-assessed numeracy and up-skilling, ALL only

Irrespective of their self-assessed numeracy skill, people with higher numeracy skill were, on average, more likely to participate in non-formal up-skilling than those with low numeracy skill.

For those with low numeracy skill who self-assessed as having low numeracy skill, the proportion participating in formal up-skilling (around 22%) was lower than for any other combination of numeracy and self-assessed numeracy skill (around 26 to 28%).This indicates that people with low numeracy skill who self-assessed as having low numeracy skill were, on average, less likely to participate in formal education.