PIAAC and Trojan Horses

The political fallout of the alleged “Trojan Horse” controversy in Birmingham has replaced the results of the European elections in the news headlines. Extremism, mistrust and intolerance are increasingly common threads in reported news.

Meanwhile, few people are commenting on findings from the OECD’s recent PIAAC Report that relate to adult learning and its effects on tolerance, citizenship and social cohesion, although the mainstream media reported on the report’s comparisons of adult literacy and numeracy levels in different countries.

An article on Active citizenship and non-work related aspects of PIAAC by Ricarda Motschilnig, published in LLinE, explores these under-reported findings. The full article contains data but the extract below gives a flavour of the author’s commentary.

European societies are becoming more complex, and generally, there are no simple solutions to political problems. Populist parties present simple answers and, in order to be able to see behind these strategies, Europe needs people…