Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC)

Summary of changes

Activity on this program started: 1994

Reference period of change - 2022

The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is the latest of a series of international surveys on adult literacy. Each cycle of PIAAC was intended to ensure continuity with the previous surveys and to extend the assessed skills by adapting them to the current social context, notably by including reading skills in digital environments.

As part of the Cycle 2 of PIAAC, the skills assessment component was completed by the respondent using a tablet. Literacy and numeracy were assessed in both cycles of PIAAC, and adaptive problem solving was measured only in Cycle 2. The exercise also included the administration of a numeracy component in addition to the reading component.

The survey also collected a range of background information. Questions on the use of skills and information and communication technologies during leisure time were added. Furthermore, a new module assessing respondents' social and emotional skills was added to better understand personality dimensions such as openness to experience, conscientiousness, and extraversion.

A doorstep interview was introduced in the Cycle 2 of PIAAC. The doorstep interview was a short, self-administered questionnaire in a third language for respondents who spoke neither English nor French.

The target population of PIAAC Cycle 2 consisted of all Canadian residents aged 16 to 65 living in the ten provinces. Collection was not done in the territories. Persons living on reserves and other Indigenous settlements, full-time members of the Canadian Forces living on military bases and the institutionalized population were excluded from the survey's coverage.

Reference period of change - 2012

This first cycle of the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) provided information on literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology rich environments of Canadian population aged 16 to 65. The survey also included a component on the assessment of reading, as well as a range of sociodemographic characteristics such as age, education and training, current work status and history, and literacy, numeracy and technology skills used at work and at home.

The following supplementary sub-populations were added to the sample: recent immigrants, Indigenous/Métis, youth (persons aged 16-25) and linguistic minorities (Anglophones in Québec, Francophones in Ontario, New Brunswick, and Manitoba).

Reference period of change - 2010 (pilot survey)

The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) initiative which aims to collect information on the skills and competencies of residents from 27 countries, including Canada. PIAAC will assess the level and distribution of adult skills in a coherent and consistent way across countries.

Target population - The target population for PIAAC is persons of working age (defined as individuals aged between 16 and 65 years), living in Canada but not in an institution or collective dwelling and, not a full-time member of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Reference period of change - 2003

The International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey was a seven-country initiative conducted in 2003. The International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS) is the Canadian component of the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL). The main purpose of the survey was to find out how well adults used printed information to function in society. Survey data include background information (demographic, education, language, labour force, training, literacy uses, information and communication technology, income) and psychometric results of respondents' proficiency along four skill domains: prose and document literacy, numeracy and problem-solving.

Target population - In 2003, the survey population was expanded to provide information on respondents over the age of sixty-five.

Reference period of change - 1994

The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was a seven-country initiative first conducted in the fall of 1994. The main purpose of the survey was to find out how well adults used printed information to function in society.