A structural equality model for adults' problem solving skills in technology-rich environments in Turkey

Due to the increasing life expectancy and the decreasing young population, leading international organizations such as OECD and UNESCO define the retraining of adults, who are the backbone of the economy, according to new conditions as a policy issue. In this sense, the intensification/enrichment of our social fields, which are frequently cited in the context of the need for new skills and the defining features of the information society and the knowledge economy, in the context of technology and information, reveals the need for literacy and problem-solving skills specific to these fields. The Problem Solving in Technology-richEnvironments (PS-TRE) skill, conceptualized by the OECD in response to this need, includes the two mentioned skills. The OECD measures the PS-TRE levels of adults from 33 countries. As a result of this measurement, PS-TRE levels of adults in Türkiye were found to be significantly lower than the OECD average. In addition, while no difference was observed in other countries, a gender difference was observed in Türkiye. Also, the effect of education status and age was found to be weaker in Turkey compared to other countries. Therefore, in this study it is aimed to examine the variables that affect the remarkable results of Turkey, starting from the contextuality of the skill levels of the countries. In this sense, based on the literature and OECD data, based on the relationship between skill qualifications and contextual differences between countries, a hypothetical Structural Equation Model is created with gender, age, educational attainment, parental educational attainment, information technology experience in daily life and profession variables, which are thought to be effective in explaining PS-TRE. As a result of the analyzes made, it was found that the developed hypothetical model was compatible. Considering the complex relationship of the variables, the difference according to gender becomes insignificant and the effect of parental educational attainment status on PS-TRE gains importance. The educational attainment variable of the person who was found to explain PS-TRE the most is also significantly affected by the individual's parent educational attainment variable. In line with these findings, suggestions were made to practitioners, policy makers and researchers.