Having good numeracy skills enables Australians to participate meaningfully in the workplace and enables them to make sense of everyday situations that require some mathematical understanding.
Australia has a lack of data about adult numeracy skills. While current thinking is that collecting data and taking steps to improve adult numeracy should be prioritised, doing so presents a serious challenge (Gal, 2016) for policy-makers.
In 2011-2017 Australia participated in the first round of PIAAC (Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) testing. The results provided information about the state of adult numeracy in Australia and gave some indication of how Australian performance compared with other countries.
This is what the testing revealed.
Figure 1: Performance by level in numeracy in PIAAC 2012. Total Australian population aged 15-74 years
The graph shows how adults performed according to levels. This is how the levels equate to numeracy skills:
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In short, more than 50% of our population is operating at a relatively low and simple level of numeracy. This means they are at level 2 or below.
How did Australians fare on the assessment questions? The following exemplifies the low standard of numeracy highlighted in the assessment.
A Low Difficulty question: How many bottles of water are shown here?
7% of adults tested did not answer the question or got it wrong.
This type of item links to basic counting of things individually or in groups.
A Low Difficulty question: Look at this image of a petrol gauge. The tank holds 48 litres. How many litres are left in the tank?
22% of adults tested did not answer the question or got it wrong.
This type of item links to reading gauges and scales.
These two examples reflect everyday tasks that people engage in at home or in the workplace and are not examples of academic mathematics.
Current Numeracy Assessment in Australia
The second cycle of PIAAC testing occurred in 2018-2024, but COVID-19 interrruptions have postponed the release of results. Australia withdrew its participation in this round of testing, meaning we will not have comparative data to determine whether numeracy has improved. Nor will we have data for international comparison. This limits the accumulation of data over time and removes the possibility of meaningful comparison with the results of other countries.
Instead, Australia is conducting a separate national study called the Foundation Skills Study (led by Jobs and Skills Australia) to measure adult literacy, numeracy and digital skills — with results expected around mid-2026. Any results from the Foundation Skills Study will not be directly comparable with PIAAC test results. The extent to which this will provide strong direction for improving Australians’ numeracy skills will only be measured by time and future testing.
In the meantime, Read Write Now tutors play an important role in supporting adults to improve their own numeracy in response to learner-identified needs.
References:
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (n.d.) Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies. Retrieved from https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/education/programme-international-assessment-adult-competencies-australia/latest-release
Gal, I. (2016). Assessment of Adult Numeracy Skills: Background paper commissioned for UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2016. UNESCO
OECD. (2013). OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills. OECD
OECD (2019). OECD Skills Outlook 2019. OECD Publishing.
Jobs and Skills Australia. (n.d.) Foundation skills and workforce capability. Retrieved from www.jobsandskills.gov.au
