Chapter 1: The why, what and how of the ALL survey

Goals of the ALL survey
The conceptual approach to the ALL survey
References
Contributor

Goals of the ALL survey

The first and most important goal of the study is to shed light on the twin processes of skill gain and loss in adult populations. For the countries for which repeat measures are available, research can explore changes that may have occurred in the level and distribution of skills since the IALS data were collected; and identify concomitant changes in population groups whose level of prose and document skills place them at a relative disadvantage in the labour market and other life contexts.

In general, one expects the quality of the skills supply to increase over time in response to increases in the incidence, average duration and quality of initial and post-secondary education as well as adult learning. The IALS data confirms this expectation — the quality of the skill supply is determined by a host of factors that influence the rate of skill acquisition over the life course, from before birth through old age. An important insight is the fact that education and experience do not “fix” a person’s skill level for life. Personal choice and differences in the nature of skill demand can lead to skill acquisition, skill maintenance or significant skill loss in adulthood. The IALS data indeed suggest that a significant skill loss in adulthood can occur — losses that may be related to low levels of skill demand at work, at home and in the community.

Skill loss represents a serious problem for individuals, social institutions and governments because it erodes the economic and social return on educational investments and hampers productivity and economic growth. With the ALL data, these important assumptions and hypotheses about the presence, likely causes and possible social and economic consequences of skill loss and deterioration can finally be explored empirically for Canada, Italy, Norway, Switzerland and the United States.

The second major goal of the ALL is to profile and compare, for the first time, the level and distribution of directly assessed numeracy skills among adult populations in participating countries. The ALL assessment replaces the quantitative literacy domain used in IALS with a broader and more robust numeracy measure that reflects better the range of numerate behaviours that confront adults in their daily lives.

The third major goal pursued by the ALL study is to profile and compare the level and distribution of problem solving skills among the adult populations of the countries surveyed. The Definition and Selection of Key Competencies (DeSeCo) programme of work (Rychen and Salganik, 2001, 2003) identified several clusters of distinct skill domains on the basis of theoretical extrapolation. This pioneering work concludes that a wider range of skills, attitudes and values about learning should be considered in international comparative surveys. Accordingly, beyond introducing an improved measure of numeracy skill, a key goal of ALL was to develop a theoretical framework that could serve as a basis for measuring additional skill domains. A substantive effort was made to develop frameworks and measures for team work skills, practical cognition, and information and communication technology (ICT) skills. But only the problem solving domain was shown to meet the high empirical standards set for directly assessing skills in the ALL study. Indirect measures of ICT skills were nevertheless retained in the final design (Statistics Canada, 2005).

A final set of goals relate to the design of the background questionnaire used to collect information on the antecedents of skill and their outcomes. The IALS study was the first international study to collect comparable data on participation in formal adult education. The analysis of this data advanced our understanding of the importance of adult learning in building skills but interpretation was hindered by the lack of measures capturing the broader contexts of life long and life wide learning. Accordingly the ALL background questionnaire was deliberately designed to profile formal, non-formal and informal adult learning and its social distribution.

Information on skill demand was also collected through questions asking about skill use at work, at home and in the community. These measures can reveal the importance of the skills measured, but only if the appropriate outcome measures are also available. Hence the final goal of the ALL study was to collect data that allows for an analysis of the relationships between skill and outcomes ranging from labour market participation and earnings, to physical and mental health, and engagement in community activities.

Top of Page

The conceptual approach to the ALL survey

The ALL study embodies a conceptual approach that includes elements of skill demand, skill supply and markets for skill. Adopting such an approach allows one to profile the nature of skill supply and demand. An important assumption is that different life contexts – work, home and the community – impose skill demands on individuals. Directly observed measures of skill such as those in ALL reflect the supply of economically and socially important skills. ALL also seeks to understand how skills influence the level and distribution of outcomes, whether economic, social or environmental. See Measuring Adult Literacy and Life Skills: New Framework for Assessment (89-552-MIE2005013) for further details on the conceptual framework used in the ALL study.

Changes in skill demand can be traced to two sources – externally imposed and internally imposed changes. Externally imposed ones result from changes in technology and work organization, consumer markets and social institutions. While there is a consensus that skill demand is rising in all life contexts – work, home and the community – it is also the result of individual life circumstances. Internally motivated changes in skill demand flow from two sources – modifications in individual and collective aspirations and as a natural consequence of a person’s passage through stages of life.

Changes in skill supply are a consequence of demographic shifts and trends in the social systems that support skill acquisition and maintenance. Education reform is the most obvious factor contributing to changes in the supply of skill. However, other factors also play an important role (OECD and HRDC, 1997). These include socio-economic development, participation in tertiary education and its quality, as well as adult education and training. All these factors have a marked impact on the quality of the skill supply.

The ALL approach allows one to gauge the efficiency of markets, which match the supply of, and demand for skills. The notion of markets embodied in the study extends beyond goods, services and labour. It also includes health care delivery and the exchange of social goods and services such as unpaid work in the family and the community. The available evidence suggests that markets for skill are reasonably efficient in recognizing and rewarding skill. However, the degree to which skills impact outcomes can vary depending on the country.

Skill loss is also an observed reality. It is assumed that this loss is related to variations in skill use in differing life contexts. Individual and collective choices can also play a role. Differences exist in the extent to which countries nurture life long learning. Skill loss implies educational opportunity costs and leads one to reflect on the need to balance supply-side intervention with measures to increase skill demand. The phenomenon of skill loss justifies the need to repeatedly measure adult skills. If initial education fixed skills for life then student assessments, such as the one organised under the auspices of the Program of International Student Assessment (PISA), would be all that would be required.

Policy makers want to understand the nature of skill deficits and devise mitigating strategies. The predominance of change requires policy makers to better appreciate the rates at which skills evolve, the forces that underlie change and the impact that change will have on key outcomes. In summary, ALL seeks to add to what is known about the scope of public policy in influencing the level and distribution of skills in society.

Top of Page

References

OECD and HRDC (1997), Literacy Skills for the Knowledge Society: Further Results from the International Adult Literacy Survey, Paris and Hull.

Rychen, D.S. and Salganik, L.H. (eds.) (2001), Defining and Selecting Key Competencies, Hogrefe and Huber Publishers, Göttingen.

Rychen, D.S. and Salganik, L.H. (eds.) (2003), Key Competencies for a Successful Life and a Well-functioning Society, Hogrefe and Huber Publishers, Göttingen.

Statistics Canada (2005), Measuring Adult Literacy and Life Skills: New Frameworks for Assessment, Ottawa.

Top of Page

Contributor

T. Scott Murray, Statistics Canada