Adult skills will be investigated in Latvia
An unknown man is ringing at your dwelling door. Open, don't open, ask what you want? You open and the newcomer tells you that you are included in an ambitious sociological survey on the skills and education of Latvian citizens. You will be given a certificate - an interviewer or interviewer from THE SKDS of the research centre. Please engage in conversation! The further 1.5 – 2 hours can be a very interesting adventure. You can remember what you've done in the last time you've learned in some training courses and how you lived at the age of 14.
The interviewer will tell you that the Ministry of Education and Science and the University of Latvia, in collaboration with the research centre SKDS, engage in an international adult competency assessment study, or PIAAC, which is the most comprehensive study of the use of adult skills and abilities in the world. Latvia participates in this study for the first time and is implemented with the support of the European Social Fund.
Of course, you're interested in what questions will be asked. It takes about 40 minutes to fill out the questionnaire and includes questions about learning, working experience, different skills, including the use of language, such as typing letters, or reading different product and medicine instructions. In the second part of the interview, a computer will be offered to the respondent, who will be required to perform several attractive tasks on the screen in order to get an idea of the skills of Latvian citizens to process information – literacy, numeracy and troubleshooting. You'll spend 1.5 – 2 hours with your computer and learn about yourself. How you use information from a variety of written texts, how you use and interpret mathematical information that is everywhere everywhere – banks, store discounts, travel and hotel homes … in turn, troubleshooting the ability to find and use digital information is important. We often say that there are answers to all questions on the Internet. But if your computer isn't really “your friend”, then your participation in the study is important because you will represent people with similar skills.
Which Latvian citizens will be invited to participate in the survey? In each participating country, 5000 or more persons are interviewed. Every citizen of Latvia has the opportunity to become a research participant – a statistically justified sample. The interviewers will come to the people of Latvia aged 16-65, which will be included in the study sample:
- both employed, unemployed and pensioners;
- both those who are still in school and those who have long gone out of school;
- they will be people with different education – both those who have obtained university diploma and those who have completed education at lower levels.
It is obvious that someone will have questions: “what kind of good is it?” “is it like an exam?” “I really don't care about it.” “I've heard that the data zog …” is anonymous, and PIAAC interviewers have signed a confidentiality agreement which obliges them to protect and not disclose the information provided by the participants.
The sample of the project is important to every person who is randomly selected, as it represents thousands of Latvian people. Therefore, you can't give up your interview! Participation in the project is a type of patriotic proof. If the person included in the sample of the project study refuses an interview, it can not be replaced by another person, and this is a loss for the overall assessment of the skills and life experience of Latvian people, and after the study, comparing Latvia's human capital with the skills and competences of the people of other Member States of the project, Latvia will not be fully reflected.
Where will the resulting data be added? After data processing, Latvia will be able to develop educational and training programmes for adults with more than 40 participating countries to help acquire missing skills. The study will make it possible to obtain a real picture for educators, employers and public institutions regarding the supply and demand of our citizens, as well as planning opportunities for education and training that are truly in line with the needs of people.
Aivis Major
Ministry of Education and Science
Policy Initiative and Development Department
project * Communication Coordinator
aivis.majors@izm.gov.lv | 00 371 67047925