30% of Spanish adults do not have minimum skills in mathematics and reading

The level of education among adults in Spain has not improved in the last decade and, as with the education of children and adolescents, it is positioned at a low to medium level compared to OECD and EU countries, according to the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC 2023), which analyzes the reading, mathematics, and problem-solving skills of adults aged 16 to 65 in 31 countries worldwide. In total, about 160,000 adults were surveyed, representing 673 million people.

In the 2023 edition, the performance in reading comprehension and math problem-solving skills of Spanish adults (not academic content but rather understanding and reasoning) remains below international averages, despite improvements in education indicators over the past decade.

There is less school dropout and more young people studying vocational training or university than in previous stages. Can this be attributed to education? Experts believe that it is not, or not entirely.

The deterioration of the labor market and the impact of immigration on the global population, possible explanations

The deterioration of the labor market, with precarious job positions and overqualified workers, which not only fails to improve these skills but also delays them due to infrequent use in the workplace, and the burden of the immigrant population on the overall population, with educational capital below the national average, could be two explanations for the stagnation in Spain. The aging population also plays a role, as competencies are observed to decline after the age of 35.

The economic policy center EsadeEcPol, which has analyzed the data and shared its findings with La Vanguardia, states, “The results of PIAAC are the result of a combination of the quality of education and training, the functioning of the labor market, and the orientation of the economy towards high value-added activities and knowledge,” says Lucas Gortázar, the director of the department.

In this edition, Spain is ranked 24th in reading, 13 and 12 points below the OECD and EU averages, respectively. The top positions are held by Finland (296), Japan (289), Sweden (284), with Portugal (235) and Chile (218) at the bottom of the list.

In mathematics, Spain’s performance is 250, 14 and 13 points behind the EU and the OECD respectively; but 44 points behind Finland, the country leading with 294 points, followed by Japan (291), Sweden (285), and Norway (285).

Competencies are lost with age, especially starting at 35 years old

In both competitions, there are six countries with worse performance than Spain (Italy, Israel, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, and Chile), and in mathematics, the United States is added to this bottom group. The result of Korea is surprising, only 3 points behind Spain, considering that Korean students, 10 years old, achieved the best results in the TIMSS 2023 assessment presented last week.

These data do not reflect a human capital of a strong and prosperous economy but an intermediate one. PIAAC understands that higher skills lead to more opportunities for employment, higher salaries, better health, life satisfaction, as well as the ability to influence social changes through politics. And better prospects for the economy of that country.

By Levels

When analyzing the results based on the levels obtained, Spain has approximately 30% of its adult population at a minimum level of competencies, meaning they have notable deficiencies to navigate in today’s reality, compared to 25% in industrialized countries.

In mathematics, fluency means being able to perform basic arithmetic operations such as multiplication and division with whole numbers, money, and common percentages like 25% or 50%.

In reading, at the first level, adults can respond to simple tasks that only require the understanding of a sentence, locate explicit information without distracting information in simple texts with a maximum length of one page.

In contrast, at high or very high levels of proficiency, Spain is at the midpoint of international averages.

When it comes to advanced reading skills, countries like Japan, Sweden, Finland, and Norway show that more than 15% of their population is at a high level. International averages barely surpass double digits. In Spain, only 4% of the population demonstrates this level of excellence.

In mathematics, Spanish individuals with high skills make up between 5 and 6 percent, while the OECD average is 12%. A positive aspect is that women have shown improvement in mathematics.

Age groups

By age groups, it can be observed that the older the individual, the lower the level in both competences. Young people aged 16-24 reflect an average of 257 points in reading and 256 in mathematics, which are figures close to the overall population of the OECD. In contrast, those aged 45-54 score 246 and those aged 55-65 only 235.

However, when comparing these averages of young people with those of the same age in other countries, the gap is greater than that shown by the older population compared to older individuals in other countries. In the first case, Spanish young people aged 16 to 24 are 14 points behind in reading and mathematics, while those aged 55 and over are 6 points behind. Overall, the age group that performs the worst compared to the OECD population of the same age are those aged 25 to 34, with significant gaps of 18 and 19 points in reading and mathematics.

The study suggests that the decline in scores with age may also be due to a significant loss of age-related skills. In fact, compared to previous editions, it can be observed that the score achieved by a particular age group in the past is not repeated in the next edition, given the age group’s leap. This implies that skills are lost starting at the age of 35.

In Spain, young adults born between 1989 and 1996 scored 7 points lower in 2023 (when they were between 27 and 34 years old) than in 2012 (when they were between 16 and 23 years old), a difference that was not significant. In the next age group of 35-44 years in 2023, the observed loss is 10 points, and 16 points in the 45-54 age group.

However, the most disappointing aspect is the stagnation observed in the evolution of education, as indicators have barely moved, despite more young people pursuing post-compulsory training than in the past and dropout rates have decreased during this period. This is not exclusive to Spain. In the last decade, only Finland and Denmark have seen significant improvements in adult literacy skills, while other countries have experienced stagnation or decline.

The OECD explains, partly, the Spanish stagnation in the entry of migrant population with an educational capital inferior to that of Spaniards (the weight of immigration in the Spanish population has increased by six points)

Immigration

On average across the OECD, in terms of reading proficiency, adults born abroad to foreign-born parents scored 46 points lower than natives. In Spain, this difference, while lower at 36 points, remains very high. In terms of math proficiency, the average performance difference in favor of natives is 40 points, and in Spain, it stands at 38 points.

Most of the countries that participated in PIAAC 2012 and 2023 saw a growth of over 5 percentage points in the proportion of foreigners. This situation includes Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Austria, Canada, Italy, Ireland, Germany, as well as Spain (6%).

Analysis

EsadeEcPol draws different conclusions from these data. “We are facing an education system that is not leading, rather mediocre, with high dropout rates, a lack of excellent students, and a dysfunctional job market,” defines Gortázar

Regarding the increase in the educational attainment of young people (more of them are enrolling in vocational training programs and universities, and the period of education has been extended with postgraduate studies and master’s degrees), the initial interpretation is that “in Spain, titles are just as or even more important than skills”.

In your judgement, if training is not ensured, neither is job market.

Gortázar believes that the economic recovery from the 2010 crisis has been based on low value-added activities and high job insecurity.

Both aspects are associated with lower development of skills in adulthood. “This has a very negative impact on the working-age population,” emphasizes.

Likewise, as acknowledged by the OECD itself, there has been an increase in the adult migrant population with a lower socio-cultural level between 2011 and 2023, which, if it had not occurred, would have led to, according to the organization, better outcomes in this edition.