O Programa Internacional para a Avaliação das Competências dos Adultos (PIAAC) e o estudo das desigualdades sociais e educativas

Abstract

The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is a leading international multi-cycle study promoted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Portugal's participation in PIAAC’s Cycle 2 will make available, from December 2024 on, very detailed information on literacy, numeracy and problem-solving competencies of adults residing in the country, which will allow for the clarification, among many other issues, of the relations between social inequalities and the possession and use of those competencies, opening very promising perspectives for their promotion and development, in a socially fair way. The availability, in open access form, of the data resulting from PIAAC represents a significant opportunity for researchers, who will be able to broaden and deepen the use of a source of information that has been intensively mobilized since data from Cycle 1 was made available. This article presents the main characteristics of PIAAC and explores some possibilities the Programme’s data brings to the study of social inequalities.