Data Literacy/ Data Literacy Education

Data literacy is about the ability to handle data. It includes competences to collect, manage, evaluate and apply data in a critical manner. The public sector struggles with the growing skills gap, since data has become a central issue in our working environment, and the ability to understand and master the huge amounts of data available to the organisation is a key challenge. Key to this is establishing a culture of data literacy, meaning employees at all levels can access and have the ability to read, work, analyse and argue with data. The OECD has launched a skills model for public sector innovation that emphasises six core skills. One of it is Data Literacy, which should ensure that decisions are data-driven and that data is not an after thought. [1]

[1]    OECD (2017), Core Skills for Public Sector Innovations, https://www.oecd.org/media/oecdorg/satellitesites/opsi/contents/files/OECD_OPSI-core_skills_for_public_sector_innovation-201704.pdf, retrieved January 25, 2018.