It’s the time of year when young people in the northern hemisphere are finishing their formal studies for the year – or for the foreseeable future.

The Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), was designed to provide insights into the availability of some of these key skills in society and how they are used at work and at home.

Around one in four students in the 15 countries and economies* that took part in the latest OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test of financial literacy are unable to make even simple decisions on everyday spending, while only one in ten can understand complex issues, such as income tax.

Disadvantaged students don’t have as many resources at home as their advantaged peers so ideally schools would need to compensate by providing more support. However, often schools reinforce social disparities rather than moderate them.

Adults who lack basic skills – literacy and numeracy – are penalised both in professional and private life. They are more likely to be unemployed or in precarious jobs, earn lower wages, have more health issues, trust others less, and engage less often in community life and democratic processes.

Teaching and learning lie at the heart of what it means to be human. While animals teach and learn from each other through direct demonstration, observation and experience, humans are unique in their ability to convey vast quantities of information and impart skills across time and space.

Teaching is a demanding profession. Teachers are responsible for developing the skills and knowledge of their students, helping them overcome social and emotional hurdles and maintaining equitable, cohesive and productive classroom environments. On top of their teaching responsibilities, they are also expected to engage in continued professional development activities throughout their careers.

The facts are simple: the bulk of people live in cities and an overwhelming percentage of economic activity originates in cities. So we must find ways to empower cities to set positive trends and lead the way toward stronger, more resilient and inclusive growth.

Thousands of vital coronavirus 'contact tracers' are only now being recruited by the Government - two weeks after the Health Secretary first announced they would be hired.

Matt Hancock is living on 'borrowed time' as Health Secretary following clashes with the three most powerful members of the Government over the Covid crisis, The Mail on Sunday has been told.

Matt Hancock is living on 'borrowed time' as Health Secretary following clashes with the three most powerful members of the Government over the Covid crisis, The Mail on Sunday has been told.

He's a Hollywood A-lister, so most people would expect Matt Damon to travel in style everywhere he goes.

Almost nine months since 19-year-old Harry Dunn tragically lost his life, his family wake every day with the knowledge that justice has not been served.

Matt Hancock is living on 'borrowed time' as Health Secretary following clashes with the three most powerful members of the Government over the Covid crisis, The Mail on Sunday has been told.

Weekend Sunrise host Matt Doran has broken down on air in an emotional tribute to his mother Paula for Mother's Day.

The brilliant choreographer's contemporary take on the tragic love story finally arrives in London.

Thousands of vital coronavirus 'contact tracers' are only now being recruited by the Government - two weeks after the Health Secretary first announced they would be hired.

Matt Hancock is living on 'borrowed time' as Health Secretary following clashes with the three most powerful members of the Government over the Covid crisis, The Mail on Sunday has been told.

Andros Townsend has accused Health Secretary Matt Hancock of painting footballers as 'villains' and 'deflecting blame' after he said they should take a pay cut to help fight coronavirus.

Both legalisation and decriminalisation talk about protecting prostitutes from police harassment, as well as guarding their right of choice. But they have so far failed to address the issue of vulnerability of the women in the sex trade. Asha Ramesh notes different voices in the debate over what the legal stance towards prostitution should be.

There are many people who believe that women should do only women's work and that they should step out of their homes for paid work only if it is absolutely necessary. But the economy is denting such perceptions, observes Kalpana Sharma.

Why is it that in the historical art galleries of painting - or of sculpture, for that matter - only a very few women are represented?

It's a dream come true for tired-out-moms, a revolutionary new cot mattress which mimics the sensation of the womb to keep babies happy at night.

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IPL: Former CSK opener Matthew Hayden reveals MS Dhoni's epic first re...

This post explains a hidden gem in the XMLHttpRequest standard that simplifies fetching and parsing JSON data through Ajax.

If Content Security Policy is enabled for protection against cross-site scripting attacks (i.e. the unsafe-inline option is not set), the use of inline