Digital skills: Austria above OECD average
Younger adults and adults with higher education participate in adult education than older and less educated people. In addition to these findings, which are repeatedly confirmed by studies (see also past reports), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also points out new aspects in its current report “Education at a Glance”.
64% of Austrians have sound skills
The OECD shows the level of digital skills in the member countries. They distinguish between basic skills (e.g. sending an e-mail), standard skills (e.g. creating presentations or spreadsheets) and advanced skills (programming skills).
In a country comparison, Austria is above the OECD average in all areas of competence, and even one-third ahead when it comes to basic skills: 64% of Austrians have basic skills (OECD average: 55%), 53% have standard skills (OECD : 40%) and 9% have advanced skills (OECD: 7%).
The country with the highest proportion of proficient skills in the population is Korea (72%), the country with the most standard skills is Norway (63%) and the country with the highest skills is Saudi Arabia (14%).
Occupational factors influence participation in further training more than educational qualifications
In the report, the OECD shows which factors influence whether adults take part in further training. She breaks these factors down into
- Personal characteristics (such as gender, age, migration background, …),
- educational qualifications (low, medium, high) and
- Job-related characteristics (e.g. job, work situation, …).
These factors, such as the characteristics typical of the job, can have a positive (e.g. educational support from the employer) or negative influence (e.g. too much stress at work) on participation in further training. Exactly how these factors influence participation is left open in the report. However, it shows which influencing factors exist in the countries or which predominate:
Overall, job-related characteristics tend to predominate, but there are differences in the country comparison: In the Netherlands, job-related factors (93%) have the greatest influence on participation in further training, in Germany it is educational qualifications (49%) and in Estonia personal factors (60%). . In Austria, job-related characteristics predominate (72%), followed by educational qualifications (15%) and personal characteristics (13%).
Overall, it can be seen that the participation rate in adult and further education is back to 14% after a decrease to 12% in 2020, in Austria it is 15% (after a decrease to 12% in 2020).
OECD calls for more financial support for shorter or more flexible training measures
In view of the ever faster need to adapt qualifications, the OECD assumes that shorter and more flexible educational paths will continue to gain in importance – including microcredentials. These are certificates that certify the results of quick educational measures (such as short courses). The OECD sees an opportunity here to improve access to the acquisition of microcredentials for vulnerable groups through financial assistance from OECD countries.
The fact that this is hardly the case in reality is shown by the OECD in the report on the basis of higher education: financial support is mainly available for conventional formal education, eg for entire courses. This is also the case in Austria. Financial support for participants in shorter tertiary education is limited, for example in Canada, Sweden and England.
About the OECD Education at a Glance report
Education at a Glance is an annual report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that provides suggestions for making education systems more effective. To this end, the OECD develops and analyzes comparable indicators and refers to country-specific results from other studies such as the Adult Education Survey (AES), the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) or national surveys.