Overview

About the ALL survey

The Adult Literacy and Lifeskills (ALL) survey (formerly the International Life Skills Survey, ILSS), is a follow-up to the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), the world's first large-scale comparative assessment of adult literacy. The ALL survey has been a joint development by Statistics Canada and by the United States' National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), in cooperation with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO (OREALC)) since 1997.

Using household survey methods, the ALL project assesses performance of adults aged 16 to 65 in the domains of Prose and Document Literacy, Numeracy, and Problem Solving, and also collects information about experiences with Information and Communication Technology. Many other variables and correlates of interest, such as demographic details, employment status, and participation in learning activities, are recorded via a Background Questionnaire (BQ).

The key goals of the project are to:

• Profile and compare skill distributions across participating countries
• Explore covariates of observed skills, e.g., social and economic factors,
• Understand the relationship of Numeracy and Problem Solving to Prose and Document Literacy.

Following several years of preparation and an extensive Pilot survey in 2002, the first round of ALL's main assessment, involving 6 countries, began in 2003. Plans include a full comparative report from the first round, to be followed by other publications and by assessment rounds in additional countries.

Numeracy in the ALL survey

Numeracy is included as a domain in the ALL Survey as one of the critical factors in determining the capability of a population to adapt to and effectively function in an increasingly information-laden society or to perform well at work (European Commission, 1996). Schools are placing more emphasis on the links between the knowledge and skills gained in the mathematics classroom and students' ability to handle real-life situations that require activation of mathematical knowledge and skills. Given the increasing need for adults to continuously adapt to changing citizenship, workplace, and everyday life demands, it is vital that nations have information about their workers' and citizens' numeracy in order to evaluate the human capital available for advancement, to plan effective school-based and lifelong learning opportunities, and to better understand the factors that affect citizens' ability to advance their well-being.