THE ASSESSMENT OF MIGRANTS’ SKILLS IN PIAAC Marco Paccagnella, EDU/SBS

• What is PIAAC

• What PIAAC tells us about migrants

• Limitations and issues to be aware of

• How can we make PIAAC (even) better

Outline

What is PIAAC

in literacy, numeracy and

problem solving in technology-

rich environments.

215 thousand adults… Representing 815 millions 16-65 year-olds in 33 countries/economies

Took an internationally

agreed assessment…

The assessment was administered either in computer-based or paper-based versions.

What is PIAAC

Sample sizes ranged from.. a minimum of approximately 4 500 to a maximum of nearly 27 300.

The survey collected background information of adults for about 40 minutes.

Respondents with very low literacy skills were directed to a test of basic “reading component” skills.

Socio-demographic background, educational attainment, tasks performed on the job, practices…

Participating countries

100 80 60 40 20 0 20 40 60 80

Jakarta (Indonesia)Turkey

ChileItaly

Greece

SpainSlovenia

Israel

Cyprus¹Lithuania

France

SingaporeNorthern Ireland (UK)

Ireland

PolandAustria

United StatesOECD average

Germany

England (UK)Korea

Denmark

Czech RepublicCanada

Flanders (Belgium)

Slovak RepublicRussian Federation

Estonia

NorwayNew Zealand

Australia

SwedenNetherlands

Finland

Japan

Proportion of the population

Level 2 Level 1 or below Level 3 Level 4 or 5

Literacy proficiency levels

Literacy and socio-demographic characteristics

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

25-34 year-olds - 55-65 year-olds

Tertiary - Less than upper secondary(adults aged 25-65)

At least one parent attained tertiary -Neither parent attained upper secondary

Native born / native language -Foreign born / foreign language

Men - Women

Differences in literacy score OECD average

Age

Educational Attainment

Parents’ education

Immigrant background

Gender

• Migrants earn lower wages

• They have lower returns to formal

education

• They have lower returns to literacy and

numeracy skills

Labour market outcomes

• Country of birth – Were you born in #countryname? If not, in what country

were you born?

– Pre-coded drop-down list of countries. If not in the list, ask for the name of country

• Year or age of arrival in the host country – At what age or in which year did you first immigrate to

#countryName?

• Mother tongue – What is the language that you first learned at home in

childhood AND STILL UNDERSTAND?

– Drop down list as before. Allow to mention 2 languages.

Available information on migrants

• Language spoken most often at home – What language do you speak most often at home?

• Mother born in the host country – Was your mother or female guardian born in

#countryName?

• Father born in the host country – Was your father or male guardian born in

#countryName?

• Country where highest educational qualification was obtained – In which country did you gain this qualification?

– Can you indicate which level in our national education system corresponds most closely with the level of this qualification?

Available information on migrants

• Sample size limited in most countries

– Hard to go above 500 cases

• Not all variables available in all countries

• Oversampling immigrants in 2nd cycle is under discussion

• Pilot study with World Bank – E&S Online Assessment in refugee camps in Italy and Greece

Issues to be aware of

• PIAAC is designed to assess skills in the national language of the host country

• Hard to disentangle cognitive skills from language

• Partly an assessment of language proficiency

• But no independent measure of language skills

• No information on language used at work, or to perform literacy-related tasks

Issues to be aware of

Literacy-related non-response

• Core BQ in the 2nd cycle

• Available in multiple languages

• Self-completed by the respondent on a

tablet

Literacy-related non-response

• Migrants educated in the host country more skilled on average

• Foreign qualifications: respondents asked to indicate the “equivalent” qualification in the host country – difficult task!

• Only highest qualification is recorded – no info on educational pathways

• Must infer them based on year of arrival in the host country

Educational qualifications

• On-going discussions on how to improve the collection, coding and harmonization of information on educational qualifications in the 2nd cycle

• Attempts to reconstruct educational pathways

• Adaptive CAMCES cross-cultural education coding tool – replace open question with a closed question adapted to the educational system where the qualification was obtained

Educational qualifications

• Reason for migration

• Language proficiency (self-assessed)

• Language used at work

• Language used in daily life

• …

• Other suggestions?

Possible additional questions?