Introduction

Through interviews with a representative sample of respondents aged 16-65 in each participating country, the Survey of Adult Skills assesses literacy, numeracy and problem solving skills. Cycle 2 continued the measures of Cycle 1, which built on previous international surveys of adult skills, allowing literacy levels to be compared over 25 years for some countries.

In 2018 the OECD contracted the United States based organisation Educational Testing Service (ETS) to lead a Consortium of agencies to manage the implementation of Cycle 2. ETS and the Consortium members worked with participating countries to ensure the Survey data was comparable across countries, and that all aspects of its implementation were of high quality.

The Ministry of Education contracted Reach Aotearoa (now part of IPSOS New Zealand) to undertake survey interviewing and data management.
See: www.ipsos.co.nz

What is the Survey of Adult Skills?

The Survey of Adult Skills:

• is the most comprehensive international survey of adult skills ever undertaken
• is a collaboration between governments, an international consortium of organisations and the OECD
• measures the skills and competencies needed for individuals to participate in society and for economies to prosper
• helps governments better understand how education and training systems can nurture these skills.

The New Zealand field trial took place in April-July 2021. The main data collection was from September 2022 to early August 2023.

We over-sampled Māori, Pacific people, and 16-25 year olds so that we can analyse data for these populations in more depth. We extended the age range to 75 years. Data collection used local branding New Zealand Study of Adult Skills (NZSAS).

Data collection included:

• interviewing adults aged 16-65 years (16-75 years in New Zealand) in their homes – at least 4,000 in each participating country
• assessing literacy, numeracy and problem solving skills
• collecting a broad range of information, including education background, how skills are used at work and in other contexts such as the home and the community.

The information from individual respondents is strictly confidential. Published results are for groups of people where individuals cannot be identified.

Cycle 2 continued and developed the approach of Cycle 1 in the following ways:

• It measured literacy and numeracy skill in the same way as Cycle 1.
• It measured a new problem solving domain: Adaptive Problem Solving (APS).  APS is the capacity to achieve one’s goals in a dynamic situation, in which a method for solution is not immediately available. It requires engaging in cognitive and metacognitive processes to define the problem, search for information, and apply a solution in a variety of information environments and contexts. Cycle 1’s problem solving domain, Problem Solving in Technology-rich Environments, differed from APS by focusing on solving problems by using digital technology, and communication tools.
• It collected new information on socio-emotional skills.
• It collected new measures of education pathways.
• The assessment was delivered on a touch-screen tablet rather than a laptop. This enabled more people to undertake the full assessment electronically.
• The interview contained the following elements:
• A background questionnaire that collected information on education, work, use of skills at work and in everyday life, languages spoken and socio-demographic information. The background questionnaire was administered face-to-face by an interviewer who entered the respondent's answers into a tablet.
• A skill assessment which was undertaken by the respondent on the tablet. Test items covered a wide range of difficulty and measured skill in the three skill domains: literacy, numeracy and problem solving.

The OECD published the first findings from Cycle 2 of the Survey of Adult Skills on 10 December 2024. The Ministry of Education published our first New Zealand report on 11 December 2024.

Ministry of Education publications based on data from the Survey of Adult Skills are located at: Tertiary literacy and numeracy publications.

Which countries participated in Cycle 2 of the Survey of Adult Skills?

The following 31 countries participated in Cycle 2 of the Survey of Adult Skills: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel,  Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

International sites of interest

The OECD's website contains:

• published findings from the Survey of Adult Skills
• technical, and methodological material
• countries' datasets and questionnaires
• the International Data Explorer where users can create their own statistical tables