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Ecuador
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Data profiles:


Ecuador
Adult skills (Survey of Adult Skills, PIAAC, 2018)
  • On average, adults in Ecuador perform below the OECD average in literacy and numeracy and as such are similar to many other middle-income countries participating in the survey. The proportion of adults scoring at the highest levels in the domain of problem-solving in technology rich environments is also below the OECD average.
  • In Ecuador, the gap between the most and least proficient adults is large.
  • In Ecuador, much like in Mexico and Peru, proficiency declines more or less linearly with age as opposed to the general inverted U-shaped relationship seen in most other countries. This is likely due to the fact that rates of completion of upper-secondary and tertiary education in these countries have increased only very recently.
  • Gender differences in literacy and numeracy skills in Ecuador are in line with that of the OECD average.
    • | Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) | Skills Matter: Additional Results from the Survey of Adult Skills (2019) | Country Note |
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    The following list displays indicators for which your selected country shows the highest and lowest values among countries. The list can be sorted by level of education or by age group. All rankings are calculated including available data from OECD and partner countries. Find out more about the methodology here.

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    Problem solving in technology-rich environments

    The percentage of adults who opted out of the computer based assessment is high compared to other countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). (18.1 %, rank 2/36 , 2018) Download Indicator

    The percentage of adults who had no computer experience is high compared to other countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). (27.1 %, rank 4/36 , 2018) Download Indicator

    The percentage of adults scoring below Level 1 in problem solving in technology-rich environments is high compared to other countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). (29 %, rank 1/33 , 2018) Download Indicator

    The percentage of adults scoring at Level 1 in problem solving in technology-rich environments is low compared to other countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). (14.1 %, rank 33/33 , 2018) Download Indicator

    The percentage of adults scoring at Level 2 in problem solving in technology-rich environments is low compared to other countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). (4.3 %, rank 33/33 , 2018) Download Indicator

    The percentage of adults scoring at Level 3 in problem solving in technology-rich environments is low compared to other countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). (1 %, rank 31/33 , 2018) Download Indicator

    Skills differences between age groups

    The percentage of young adults (25-34 year-olds) scoring high (at Level 2 or 3) in problem solving in technology-rich environments is low compared to other countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). (7.4 %, rank 33/33 , 2018) Download Indicator

    Skills differences by gender

    The percentage of men scoring high (at Level 2 or 3) in problem solving in technology-rich environments is low compared to other countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). (6.1 %, rank 33/33 , 2018) Download Indicator

    The percentage of women scoring at Level 2 or 3 in problem solving in technology-rich environments is low compared to other countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). (4.4 %, rank 33/33 , 2018) Download Indicator

    Skills differences by level of education

    The percentage of adults without upper secondary education scoring high (at Level 2 or 3) in problem solving in technology-rich environments is low compared to other countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). (0.4 %, rank 32/32 , 2018) Download Indicator

    The percentage of adults with an upper secondary education scoring high (at Level 2 or 3) in problem solving in technology-rich environments is low compared to other countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). (3.7 %, rank 33/33 , 2018) Download Indicator

    The percentage of adults with tertiary education scoring high (at Level 2 or 3) in problem solving in technology-rich environments is low compared to other countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). (11.8 %, rank 33/33 , 2018) Download Indicator

    Skills by parents' educational attainment

    The percentage of adults whose parents had not attained upper secondary education scoring high (at Level 2 or 3) in problem solving in technology-rich environments is low compared to other countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). (2.4 %, rank 32/33 , 2018) Download Indicator

    The percentage of adults with at least one parent with upper secondary education scoring high (at Level 2 or 3) in problem solving in technology-rich environments is low compared to other countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). (9.7 %, rank 33/33 , 2018) Download Indicator

    The percentage of adults with at least one parent with tertiary education scoring high (at Level 2 or 3) in problem solving in technology-rich environments is low compared to other countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). (18.9 %, rank 33/33 , 2018) Download Indicator


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    General findings
    
                        
    
                            
    
                                
      In the 2023 Survey of Adult Skills, literacy is defined as "accessing, understanding, evaluating, and reflecting on written texts in order to achieve one's goals, to develop one's knowledge and potential, and to participate in society" (Rouet et al., 2021). Proficiency in literacy is crucial for adults across their personal, social and professional spheres, given the prevalence of written communication in various aspects of life. Throughout the day, adults engage in a diverse range of reading activities, spanning from delving into extensive pieces of continuous text to swiftly scanning pages for pertinent information. Examples include reading emails, leaflets, timetables and instruction manuals.
    
                            
    
                            
    
                                | Education policies: Adult competencies | 
    
                            
    
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      In the 2023 Survey of Adult Skills, numeracy encompasses "accessing, using, and reasoning critically with mathematical content, information and ideas represented in multiple ways in order to engage in and manage the mathematical demands of a range of situations in adult life" (Tout et al., 2021). The skills and knowledge needed for work and civic participation, and in more personal spheres of life, have changed. Individuals are presented with ever-increasing amounts of information of a quantitative or mathematical nature through online or technology-based resources, which have to be located, selected or filtered, interpreted, and at times questioned and doubted, and analysed for their relevance to the responses needed.
    
                            
    
                            
    
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      The first cycle of the Survey of Adult Skills measured problem solving in technology-rich environments. This is defined as the ability to use digital technology, communication tools and networks to acquire and evaluate information, communicate with others and perform practical tasks. The survey assessed adults' ability to solve problems by establishing appropriate goals and plans, and accessing and using information through computers and computer networks.


      
In the 2023 Survey of Adult Skills, problem solving in technology-rich environments was replaced by adaptive problem solving (APS). This involves "the capacity to achieve one’s goals in a dynamic situation in which a method for solution is not immediately available. It requires engaging in cognitive and metacognitive processes to define the problem, search for information, and apply a solution in a variety of information environments and contexts" (Greiff et al., 2021).


      
APS has three important features. First, it emphasises individuals’ capacity to flexibly and dynamically adapt their problem-solving strategies to a dynamically changing environment. Second, it tests their ability to identify and select among a range of available physical, social and digital resources. Third, individuals need to monitor and reflect on their progress in solving problems, through metacognitive processes.
    
                            
    
                            
    
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            Diagram of funding flows - Ecuador
            
    
            
    
        
    


        
		
    
            
    
			Click on the coverpage to see the full OECD iLibrary version
			
    
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            Country Reviews for Ecuador
            
    
            
    
			
    
        
    
		
              
              
              
              
              
        
    
            Note: These values should be interpreted with care since they are influenced
            by countries' specific contexts and trade-offs. In education, there is often no simple
            most- or least-efficient model. For instance, the share of private expenditure in
            education must be read against other measures designed to mitigate inequities, 
			such as loans and grants; longer learning time is an opportunity to convey
            more and better content to students, but may hinder investments in other important
            areas. If you want further information on the nature of different variables, please
            take the time to read the analysis and contextual information, available at the website
            for each publication.
    
            All rankings for individual variables are compiled on the basis of OECD and G20 countries for which data are available. 
            The OECD average includes only OECD countries which are listed here: http://www.oecd.org/about/membersandpartners/
            

    
			Reference years displayed in the Education GPS correspond to the most common year of reference among countries for which data is available on each variable. Data for the latest available year is preferred and some 
			countries may have provided data refering to a more recent or late year. To know more about possible exceptions on data please click on the "Download Indicator" link on each variable. When a year of reference corresponds to a school year encompassing two years, the reference reads as follows: 2018 for school year 2017/2018.  
			

    
	    *TALIS averages are based on all countries participating in the TALIS survey, including partner countries and economies. 
		This explains the difference between the OECD average and the TALIS averages.
		Data from the TALIS survey and Education at a Glance (EAG) may differ. See Annex E of the TALIS technical report and 
		Annex 3 
		of EAG 2021 for more details about the data collections.
            

    
			B-S-J-Z (China) refers to the four PISA-participating provinces/municipalities of the People's Republic of China:
Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
			

    
            For additional notes, please refer to annexes in the list of links below the introductory country profile text.