people and planet

13
As the indicator of ICT skills (HH15) was defined only
recently, data were available for just eight countries
by 2016. But European countries have been collecting
similar information since the early 2000s (Eurostat,
2014), and it is possible to combine information from
these two comparable sources. In the European Union,
among adults in 2014, 65% could send an e-mail with
FIGURE 13.1:
The frequency of computer-related activities varies across countries
and by task
Percentage of adults who had carried out a computer-related activity in the past
three months, selected countries, 2013–2014
Eurostat
Finland
Austria
Lithuania
Greece
In Finland, 28% of adults had
written a computer program
an attachment, 44% used basic arithmetic formulas in
a spreadsheet, and 28% could download and configure
software. The percentage of adults outside the European
Union (EU) who had carried out this task was 3% in the
Islamic Republic of Iran and 15% in Brazil (Figure 13.1).
While the ITU has not synthesized activities into an easily
communicated index of ICT skills, the European Union
has proposed ways of adding up the number of activities
carried out and assigning individuals to skill levels (European
Commission, 2014). However, there is no consensus on
how to aggregate the information. Moreover, in coming
years further ICT skills are likely to be considered
highly relevant for work. For example, the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
countries are collecting information related to security
and privacy, such as the ability to protect personal data
(OECD, 2015h).
Digital literacy skills
The ICT skills indicator has the advantage of being
straightforward to interpret and collect. However,
it reflects only the prevalence of certain computerrelated
activities and not the skill level at which they are
performed. Such skills cannot be self-reported but need
to be assessed directly.
Romania
ITU
Singapore
Kazakhstan
Brazil
Iran, Isl. Rep.
Egypt
In Romania, 16% of adults had
carried out basic arithmetic in
a spreadsheet
In Kazakhstan, 48% of
adults had sent an email
with an attachment
In Egypt, 7% of adults had used copy
and paste tools to move information
within a document
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Adults who had used a computer and carried out the specific activity (%)
Write computer program
Download/configure software
Create electronic presentation
Do basic arithmetic in spreadsheet
Connect/install device
Sources: ITU (2015) and Eurostat (2016).
Transfer file, computer to device
Use copy/paste tools in document
Send email with attachment
Copy/move file
90
A measure of these skills should capture how individuals
use technology in a critical and creative way to
manage and create information, solve problems and
communicate (JRC, 2013). Accordingly, ICT (or digital)
literacy was first defined as the cognitive ability to
use ‘digital technology, communications tools, and/or
networks to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, and
create information in order to function in a knowledge
society’ (International ICT Literacy Panel, 2002). The
definition drew on an earlier concept of information
literacy as changed by the advent of digital technology
(Catts and Lau 2008; Erstad, 2010).
The International Computer and Information Literacy
Study (ICILS), which was administered to grade 8 students
in 21 education systems in 2013, defined computer and
information literacy as ‘an individual’s ability to use
computers to investigate, create, and communicate in
order to participate effectively at home, at school, in the
workplace, and in society’ (Fraillon et al., 2014).
Students completed a computer-based test that
consisted of two modules randomly selected out of
four. Each 30-minute module was based on a theme
and consisted of a set of small discrete tasks followed
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CHAPTER 13 | TARGET 4.4 – SKILLS FOR WORK