Large-scale International Research
The foundation of the dashboard is the PIAAC research. This is a large international study on the knowledge and skills of adults. It is conducted approximately every ten years in dozens of countries, including the Netherlands. One component of the research is a language and arithmetic test. This provides insight into someones level of basic skills. The dashboard is based on data from Dutch respondents.Latest Figures
In 2019, the ROA research center of Maastricht University, the Expertise Center for Vocational Education (ECBO), and research agency Etil research group published a dashboard with figures on literacy. They did this at the request of the Ministry of OCW and based their work on the PIAAC research from 2012. From the end of October, policymakers can benefit from an updated version of the dashboard. The data is based on the latest PIAAC figures: from 2023. After the publication of the new data, the ministry wanted an update of the dashboard, says Snijders. The latest PIAAC figures were published at the end of 2024 and are linked to CBS register data from 2024, for example about age and educational level.OCW issued two assignments for this. CBS was asked to analyze the latest PIAAC figures and translate them to municipal and district levels. Furthermore, the Expertise Point Basic Skills, as part of the Foundation for Reading and Writing, was requested to update the dashboard and make it accessible for the field.
Breakdown at District Level
Were the tasks for CBS a first? Not entirely, says senior policy researcher and project leader Jaap Jansen. We had previously used PIAAC figures from 2012 to get a picture of low literacy in Rotterdam districts. I am also the coordinator of the CBS Urban Data Center/The Hague. In 2023 the municipality of The Hague asked me if CBS could do the same for the eight Hague city districts. During that period, the latest PIAAC figures were in the pipeline. It was also the time when we came into contact with the Foundation for Reading and Writing. We understood that they were also starting to work with the current PIAAC figures through the Expertise Point Basic Skills. A collaboration was logical. This is partly why CBS came to the ministry for the further development of the national dashboard.Participating Fully
Joram Snijders is a senior policy officer in the Directorate of Secondary Vocational Education at the Ministry of OCW. He says: A large group of people in our country lacks sufficient basic skills to participate fully in society. The ministry wants to encourage them to improve these skills. Municipalities are important in this, as they have a coordinating role in addressing basic skills for adults. Think of identifying this group and reaching and encouraging them. For example, for a language course. The dashboard helps policymakers in this.4250 Dutch People
4250 Dutch people between 16 and 75 years participated in the latest PIAAC research. How did CBS come to reliable percentages of residents in all Dutch municipalities who struggle with language and arithmetic based on the research results?Jansen: Low literacy is often associated with educational level, migration background, employment status, and age. Regarding the latter: after about the 65th year of life the chance of low literacy increases. From the participants in the PIAAC research, CBS has information about age, migration background, employment status, and usually also educational level. The PIAAC data on low literacy has been combined with this. Based on this, the relationship between low literacy and these characteristics has been modeled. We know how these characteristics are distributed per municipality and, in many cases, per district. This allows an estimate to be made of low literacy within the area for each municipality and, in many cases, for each district.
Important Themes
Marleen Hensbergen is an advisor at the Expertise Point Basic Skills. She explains which indicators about limited basic skills have been included in the analyses for the dashboard.The dashboard shows how residents with limited basic skills in a particular municipality or district are divided into subgroups. In close consultation with CBS and the field, four important main indicators have been examined. There has been a look at employment status, family status, and age. And for the first time, the ratio of people with Dutch as their first language (residents born in the Netherlands) and people with Dutch as their second language (born abroad) is also clearly represented. The figures in the dashboard provide policymakers with insights to make informed choices and thus steer policy. The overview of the target groups also provides policymakers with tools: it helps them find residents with limited basic skills more easily, for example through their employer, UWV, or their childrens school.
