5. Skills in the digital era

Did you know?

In technology-rich environments, the share of young working men and women with good problem-solving skills is three and four times, respectively, that of the oldest generation.

Solid cognitive skills coupled with the ability to solve problems and learn and think creatively are key to adapting to the scale, speed and scope of digital transformations.

On average, 6% of OECD 15 year-olds are top performers in science and mathematics, according to the results of the 2015 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Two-thirds of them are also endowed with top reading skills. Conversely, about 17% of students perform poorly in at least two out of these three fields. Canada, Estonia, Finland and Japan are the only countries in which the share of top performers is higher or on par with that of low achievers (between 8.5% and 11.6% in the case of top achievers, and 6.3% to 8.5% for those at the bottom of the achievement scale).

Education and skills endowment at an early stage in life generally translate into better job performance. The differences observed in countries surveyed by the Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) between workers aged 25-34 and those aged 55-65 point to the positive effect of education on skills. Across all countries, younger workers exhibit better problem-solving skills than older workers. Intergenerational differences are often higher for women than men. Young women are key to raising the average population score in countries where 30% or less workers have a medium or high ability to solve problems in technology-rich environments. This is the case, for example, in Slovenia, Greece and Turkey, where the share of young women with good abilities is 47%, 30% and 24%, respectively, versus 34%, 19% and 15%, respectively, for young men.

With regard to readiness to learn and creative thinking, age and gender-related differences are more significant across countries than within countries. This underlines the role of factors such as culture and societal norms in shaping personality traits.

Definitions

Top performers are students aged 15-16 who achieved the highest level of proficiency (i.e. Levels 5 and 6) and low achievers performed below Level 2 at the PISA 2015 assessment.

Problem solving in technology-rich environments relate to tests conducted on workers aged 25-34 and 55-65 who exhibited medium and high performance (i.e. individuals reaching Level 2 or 3 in the test in PIAAC) in solving problems encountered when using information and communication technologies. The indicator on readiness to learn and creative thinking reflects personality traits and is based on six PIAAC questions.

Measurability

Students assessed by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) undertaken by the OECD are between the ages of 15 years, 3 months and 16 years, 2 months. They must be enrolled in school and have completed at least six years of formal schooling, regardless of the type of institution, programme followed or whether the education is full-time or part-time. The most recent, available PISA data were collected during the 2015 school year: over half a million students, representing 28 million 15-year-olds in 72 countries and economies took the internationally agreed 2-hour test. Figures related to problem solving in technology-rich environments are based on a subset of PIAAC countries, as France, Italy and Spain did not participate in the assessment tests. The indicator of readiness to learn and creative thinking was developed using exploratory state-of-the-art factor analysis. It relies on six items related to openness to new experiences and creative thinking, such as “Relate new ideas into real life” or “Like learning new things”. The detailed methodology can be found in Grundke et al. (2017).