Every 10 years, the OECD has a PIAAC for adult (16-65 years old) competency assessment program in member countries. The results for 2023 were released a few days ago. It’s not very quoted in the Korean media. It’s been crazy, huh? This survey is conducted through surveys, and the response rate is around 45-70%. But Korea is the only country where the response rate exceeds 70 percent. Well, anyway, it’s a good thing!
The report evaluates adults’ language, math, and problem-solving skills, with scores ranging from 0 to 500 points. To summarize the main findings…..,
1.
On average, about 20 percent of adults in OECD countries scored below one level in literacy. This is equivalent to reading ability at the elementary school level. In other words, 20 percent of adults are not at the level of elementary school students. That means that elementary school students have become smarter.
2.
Korean adults’ language proficiency was 249 out of 500, 11 points lower than the OECD average (260). Korea, Lithuania, New Zealand, and Poland were the lowest-ranking countries in a decade (over 20), while Finland and Denmark were the top scorers.
- In Korea, the level was similar to the OECD average in the 16-24 age group, but the competency level tended to drop sharply as the age increased. In particular, a sharp decline in language and numeracy was observed in the age group after the age of 35.
- Korea’s language ability, math ability, and adaptive problem-solving ability were all below the OECD average in all three categories. Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden, on the other hand, showed the best abilities in all areas.
- Another characteristic was that Korea was found to be a country where the discrepancy between academic background and competency was noticeable. The academic background is excessive, and the actual competency is far from sufficient. It was found that this gap was the largest by age.
- In Korea, 63.5 percent of 16-24 year olds were at level 2 or higher (the highest among OECD countries), while only 3.9 percent of 55-65 year olds were at level 2 or higher (OECD average of 11.7 percent). It was the lowest in the OECD.
The OECD report attributed this to rapid changes in the educational environment and a lack of a lifelong learning system, suggesting the need for adult education and retraining policies in the future. But is that possible?
Korea is one of the fastest aging countries in the world. If this problem is not solved, immigration would be the smartest option. I believed that I had come this far with just one educational column, but now even that seems to be collapsing.
The distance between Yeouido and Gwanghwamun seems to be getting farther and farther.