Definition: the indicator measures the proportion of 15-year-old students who do not reach level 2 (elementary level) of the PISA scale for reading performance. It is one of the three key areas of learning, alongside mathematics and sciences. The data come from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international survey conducted every three years to assess the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. In Belgium, the tests are carried out by the universities of Ghent and Liege. Since these data are based on surveys, a margin of uncertainty should be taken into account. The confidence intervals can be found on the OECD website, on the PISA data pages.

Goal: the proportion of 15-year-old students with inadequate reading skills must be less than 15% in 2030.

The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 4.6: "By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy".

In the Council Resolution on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond (2021-2030), the European Council reconfirms the following target: "The share of low-achieving 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics and science should be less than 15%, by 2030." (Official Journal of the European Union, 26/02/2021, 2021/C 66/01).

International comparison: the share of 15-year-old students with insufficient reading proficiency develops very similarly in Belgium and in the EU27. The share was always lower in Belgium than in the EU27. The lowest gap was recorded in 2015 (barely 0.5 percentage point). The gap in 2018 was 1.2 percentage points. Eurostat also warns, in its comments on OECD figures, against a Europe-wide decline in school performance in all three key areas. When Member States are divided into three groups, Belgium is part of the group with average performance and performs better than the European average in 2018. In that year, Estonia ranked first with 11.1% and Bulgaria last with 47.1%.

UN indicator: the selected indicator corresponds to indicator 4.6.1 - Proportion of population in a given age group achieving at least a fixed level of proficiency in functional (a) literacy and (b) numeracy skills.

Sources

• General

  • SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals: United Nations (2015), Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, document A/RES/70/1.

  • Indicators: United Nations (2017), Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017, document A/RES/71/313.

  • UN Sustainable Development: https://sdgs.un.org/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

  • UN Sustainable Development Goal indicators website: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

• Specific

  • OECD website on PISA: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/ (consulted on 26/04/2019).

  • Official Journal of the European Union: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/oj/direct-access.html?locale=nen (consulted on 11/07/2022).

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