Adult numeracy in Italy

Vittoria Gallina – Invalsi

Firenze - September 2007

Numeracy and document litercy skillsin Adult age

May 2005 publication of the results of the Adult Literacy and Life skills (ALL) – OECD, Statistics Canada and six countries taking part in the first round of the study (Bermuda, Canada, Italy, Norway, Switzerland and the USA).

This study assesses the set of fundamental skills that, in today’s world, guarantee:

The exercising of citizenship rights The participation in the job market A conscious and adequate social inclusion

Changing is the interpretative factor of the processes in today’s world.

In this perspective the possession of numeracy skills is considered strategic: a factor revealing the ability to consciously

be part of change processes.

The problem of low skilled population in Italy

The results of the ALL study in Italy highlight an overall weakness of the skills of the adult population (aged 16-65 years) and an alarming gap with the results of the other six countries.

The variables that have a strong correlation with the adult population skills and, above all, the results of the cognitive tests show that the Italian population has a gap which, if not bridged in a relatively short time, may become a real handicap.

The European development model establishes two strong reference parameters: equity/social cohesion and competitiveness.

The risk for Italy consists of being forced to play the competitiveness card without being able to equip the overall

population with those sociocultural resources which guarantee equal opportunity

Numeracy and document literacy: two strategic competences in the globale world

The ALL theoretical framework highlights the strategic importance of those skills referring to reasoning ability, the control of formalised language forms and their use in decision-making concerning the comprehension and production of rationally-based information.

The numeracy items are constructed as tests of the ability to choose and apply rules and to develop reasoning that justifies the choices mad.

The introduction of problem-solving items opens up a interesting prospect in view of the development of comparative studies that can grasp the evolutionary process of a number of skills enacted at a give moment in time.

The average scores of the six participating countries.The performances differ, the same country has

different vocations and educational needs.

Prose literacy Document literacy

Numeracy Problem solving

Bermuda 289 279 269 272 Canada 280 280 272 273 Italy 229 226 233 224 Norway 290 295 284 284 Switzerland 271 276 289 278 USA 268 269 260 -

Italy ranks last in the table If we translate these scores into the five levels of the ALL score scale

[level 1 from 0 to 225; level 2 from 226 to 275; level 3 from 276 to 325; levels 4/5 from 326 to 500 – levels 1 and 2 indicate a weak possession

of skills, not enough to be able to receive and to elaborate new knowledge], we can conclude that the average skills of the population lie

below those necessary to keep abreast in an ever-changing world

Range between minimum and maximum numeracy and document literacy scores in Italy

Numeracy 350 [min. 62 – max. 412] Problem-solving 489 [min. 11 – max. 500] Document literacy 405 [min. 33 – max. 438] Prose literacy 397 [min. 23 – max. 420]

Numeracy -The narrower range depends on a relatively high minimum score and the maximum score which is the lowest of the 4 scales: the adult population shares a widespread base of elementary calculus skills, but at the same time, a limited ability to develop and justify what ALL’s framework calls mathematical reasoning.

Document literacy shows a larger range, due to the low minimum score and relatively high maximum score; the widespread knowledge base is extremely weak in relation to items requiring the comprehension of graphs, tables and data concerning information presented through a combination of short sentences and display of data, trends and so on.

Variables correlated to numeracy performance:

gender, age, employment status MEN average score: 239 points in numeracy (minimun score 85);

230 in document literacy.

WOMEN average score: 226 points in numeracy (minimum score 62); 221 in document literacy.

A greater weaknesses in numeracy starts from the 46-55 age-group; the most competent appear to be those in the 26-35 age-group. In the document literacy tests, the youngest yield the best results, (better result for this age-group is due to the girls’ performance)

Employment status: students average scores 258 in both tests; employed respondents average scores 235 and 243; housewives average scores 200 and 235; unemployed 216 and 220 and retired people 169 and 212 average scores.

Weackness of academic qualification and weack competences

The weak competencies shown by the Italian population is depending on the weakness of the academic qualification:

People with at most a lower secondary education certificate (52.7% of the Italian ALL sample) have average scores of 205 in document literacy and 213 in numeracy.

People with a high school diploma: 245 and 253.

People with a post-diploma qualification (9.2% of the Italian sample): 267 and 270.

The subjective perception of the skills possessed (1)

The cognitive biography in mathematics is reconstructed by expressing one’s views with regard to some statements:

I liked mathematics at school

I had good grades

The teachers went too fast, I couldn’t follow

I generally understood the explanations

The subjective perception of the skills possessed (2)

40% of the Italian respondents disliked mathematics at school (indeed, 12% totally disagree with the statement)

36% did not get good grades (8,2% totally disagree)

and 21% did not generally understand mathematics in class; for the 25% of the respondents “the teachers went too fast”

but 22% totally disagree with the statement “they went too fast”: they could follow teacher’s lessons at school

Variables correlated with a positive memory of mathematics at school

Over half the respondents have an overall positive memory of mathematics at school: more men than women.

The percentage of those with good grades is fairly evenly distributed between genders as it is their views on their teachers and the ability to follow the lessons. This homogeneity in views is also found when examining the responses according to age-group and employment condition.

BUT

The academic qualification variable shows that those with lower academic qualifications recall having had greater difficulty at school:

1. half of those with at most a lower secondary education certificate did not like mathematics;

2. 48% had bad grades;3. 35% were not followed up properly by their teachers “ went too fast” over

60% of Italian respondents managed to follow the syllabus.

Use of mathematics in everyday life and at work

You are good with numbers and calculations

You get anxious when you have to work out percentages, discounts, rates etc.

About 28% of the population said they did not manage to get by with numbers and 25% said they got anxious when having to deal with operations such as working

out percentages, rates, etc.

Use of mathematics at work

On a table recording the frequency with which a certain activity is carried out (every day, weekly, monthly, rarely, never), the worker says if s/he:

Reads/uses charts, diagrams etc. Reads instructions Writes instructions Reads bills or receipts Writes bills or receipts Makes measurements or estimates Works out prices

About 25% of Italian workers do not do these operations at work

A quarter of Italian workers do not have the opportunity of learning by doing, which is a fundamental element of skill

conservation and enhancement in adulthood.

Risk of becoming unemployed those with limited numeracy skills

0

1

2

3

4

Italy

Odds Level 1/2 Level 3+

Relationship between numeracy levels and enacted skills on the job: those with higher skills have a greater opportunity of

carrying out these activities, while those with very low skills lie within the category of those who never carry them out

0,0

1,0

2,0

3,0

4,0

Switzerland Bermuda United States Canada Norway Italy

Index score Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4/5 Mean

The direct observation of the results of the tests: skills actually possessed (1)

The ALL study defines numeracy as “the knowledge and skills needed to be able to effectively use mathematical tools in the various contexts requiring them”.

The tasks contained do not so much refer to school mathematical knowledge and calculus ability , but the use made of mathematics in adult life: making estimates, conducting measurements, making statistical forecasts and, above all, using formalised language forms in order to communicate, express and lay out the problems.

The direct observation of the results of the tests: skills actually possessed (2)

From the easiest item: The picture of a box of coca cola bottles arranged in

different layers; the respondent has to work out the total number of bottles.

To the more difficult one: The presentation of a finance company advertisement;

the respondent has to work out whether – by investing a given sum at a 10% fixed rate of interest in a certain time period – the capital invested will double (as with all the adult life skills tests, the item also provides a simple formula which can be applied in the relative calculation).

The direct observation of the results of the tests: skills actually possessed (3)

60 to 80% of the respondents show they know how to work out percentages.

Many of the items requiring the measurement of different dimensions and the calculation of relations between these although requiring fairly simple operations are quite difficult – the correct answers are in the region of 40%.

[such as having to find the right sized envelope for a card from several envelopes of different sizes and then working out the number of packets of envelopes necessary for sending a certain number of cards, given that each packet contains 10 envelopes],

However, it is interesting to note that over 30% of the respondents do not answer at all – do not even attempt the item. This is also found with items presenting a town plan where respondents have to find the shortest route to get to a certain address

while respecting certain conditions, and so on. Here, too, the correct answers were in the region of 34%, and about 30% did not even attempt the item.

The direct observation of the results of the tests: skills actually possessed (4)

The respondents with fewer weaknesses in numeracy appear to be those with the highest academic qualifications, and this is an obvious fact found in the six countries.

However, because the unwillingness to work out the solution to the items is a “characteristic of the Italian respondent”, it is worth looking at this type of respondent more closely as regards numeracy. This respondent was more likely to be female, with at most a lower secondary education certificate, and aged between 36 and 45 years; employment condition does not seem to make any difference.

Fundamental problems about numeracy in adult age

A mastery of formalised language forms and the ability to build processes rationally based on problem-solving is a strategic condition for

citizens in a global world, and it is thus necessary to give priority to adult education

initiatives to this end: this statement is obvious but to give a solution to the problem

is difficult, for various reasons.

Problem number one

The first difficulty is linked to the relative scarcity of specific studies on numeracy learning strategies in adulthood (OECD –

Statistics Canada, Learning a living, 2005),

and this scarcity is especially evident in Italy

Problem number two: a specific Italian problem?

The close correlation between developing this competence and attending an initial formal school education process.

Those elements of competence that can be called “crystallised” skills (consolidated in one’s initial compulsory education) mainly refer to the acquisition and use of the various “alphabets” of the languages of knowledge. The brevity of the compulsory education process, which has only just recently been extended to 10 years in Italy, creates weaknesses in the ability to deal with reading, comprehension and of the content of a text.

These weaknesses are also found when the reading, comprehension and decision-making for problem-solving concerns the activation of specific language forms.

Problem number three The third problem is connected to adults’ poor motivation in

acquiring or consolidating scientific-type knowledge and procedures.

Getting adults to consolidate or acquire a numeracy skill, according to the broad meaning of the term, which the ALL study also provides, does not mean just arousing, stimulating and cultivating curiosity for specific knowledge and contents, but prompting the adult to start using procedures and language forms that may not be evident in everyday life.

The Italian results of the ALL study clearly show that adults, who may even have gained the ability to get by with simple operations, like making not very complex inferences and solving some problems of practical geometry (such as working out the number of floor tiles needed to pave a kitchen), give up when facing problems requiring careful reading and deciding on a possible solution from the various strategies offered.

A suggestion, not a conclusion

For Italy, the correlation between limited literacy skills (reading, understanding a written text, gathering and producing information) linked to a short education process (eight years of education at the most) and limited numeracy skills is very clear, but this problem is found in all the countries involved.

While it is true that, in today’s world, a citizen will increasingly become a consumer of data, then a fundamental

skill will be that of being able to read and interpret data, statistics, tables and so on critically and not passively.

The materials that have been gathered in view of this conference are very interesting because they offer a theoretical systematisation of numeracy “tasks” in adulthood, but turning them into adult learning paths and strategies – especially for adults with limited skills – requires a lot more research work and field trials.