Characteristics
Implications for future programme development
Taking into account the relatively poor literacy, numeracy and digital problem-solving skills of adult population that were revealed by PIAAC survey, two implications can be considered. First, adult guidance services may wish to include a focus on basic skills, for example by making efforts to identify and improve the basic skills of adults with low levels of education, an approach currently being piloted as part of GOAL in the Netherlands. There may be an opportunity to learn from the Netherlands’ experience, especially if low basic skills become a higher priority issue for government following the release of these PIAAC results. A second implication relates to poor Lithuanian results on the problem-solving in technology rich environment aspect of PIAAC. These poor results suggest that low-educated adults may struggle to use online guidance resources, unless these resources are specifically designed for this target group. This potential challenge highlights the need for face-to-face counselling for this target group.