The International Literacy Day 2023 was the first after the launch the text generating artificial intelligence ChatGPT. This was the reason for a Literacy Promptathon that allows users to learn how to handle text and image generation. The International Literacy Day media coverage for the first time touched on the question of AI generated text. One…

Adult literacy skills are critical assets of individuals as well as societies in terms of economic (e.g., human capital) and social well-being. Thus, it is important to monitor the long-term trends and sources of skill gain/loss. Yet, temporal sources of adult literacy skill variation are understudied. The current study analyzed three comparable,…

Historically, numeracy has tended to be forgotten and overlooked in adult education, especially compared to literacy. Yet evidence exists to show that numeracy should be made a priority, and that building the foundational numeracy skills of young people and adults is vital for their well-being in work and life in the 21st century. In the past…

Recent literature shows that younger cohorts have lower levels of literacy ceteris paribus in Canada, the United States, Norway and other developed countries. Very few explanations are provided to justify the existence of this negative cohort effect. Yet this decline has serious implications for the economy, education system and society. In this…

This article analyses comparative data from the 1994-1998 International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and the 2012 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). At the micro level, the author considers factors involved in the development of an individual person's literacy from a lifecycle perspective. At the macro level,…

This paper presents findings by the "LEO Survey 2018 -- Living with Low Literacy." It found that in Germany 12.1% of the adult population (aged between 18 and 64 years) have low literacy skills. This paper questions existing assumptions about the everyday life of adults with low literacy. Based on variables on everyday practices, we work…

The field of Adult Literacy and Numeracy (ALN) has an evidence problem. This paper analyses that problem through the lens of three overarching types of evidence available to researchers and policymakers: Type 1 evidence, which provides descriptions of the scope of social problems; Type 2 evidence measuring the impacts of programmes addressing…

There has been a prolific production of research papers on workplace learning (WPL) during the last two decades. Several reviews of the field discuss the development of themes, the use of foundational terms and some different models and frameworks have been developed. The purpose of this article is to analyse the recent development of the field of…

Background: In Germany, three large-scale surveys--the Level One Study (LEO), the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), and the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS)--provide complementary data on adults' literacy skills that can be harnessed to study adults with low literacy. To ensure that research on…

Using novel adult skills surveys, this article analyses cross-country patterns in skill achievement and labour market returns, comparing the outcomes for a subset of developing countries with the results previously found for high-income economies. Apart from displaying lower average cognitive skills, developing countries also exhibit wider…

In recent years, the Norwegian government has invested heavily in improving basic skills in the adult population. Initiatives have included legislation, the introduction of work-based adult education programs, and reforms in schooling. In light of this investment, we explore trends in adult literacy and numeracy, by comparing data from two…

The major purpose of the study was to look into change and continuity in the policy and practices of adult basic literacy initiatives in Ethiopia and to deduce lessons that can be drawn from the experiences for the future of adult basic literacy program in the country and elsewhere. Data was obtained through critical review of documents on the…

Mixed findings characterize the literature on skills and economic distributions within and across countries. The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) offers new, internationally comparable data on literacy, numeracy, and digital problem-solving skills that can be combined with wage information. This paper…

The study reported in this paper shed light into the lessons learned using two ICT tools in adult literacy programmes. The research design adopted was a "descriptive" method. Twenty (20) participants were purposively selected in advanced literacy class from two adult literacy centres (10 participants each for computer treatment and…

Background: Immigrants, a fast-growing population in Canada, score below the national average in health literacy, but the reasons behind the low scores are largely unknown. Also, there is a need to understand the long-term impact of immigration by examining health literacy by generational status. Objective: To examine health literacy differentials…