Chapter 6. Conclusion Directions for future research While this dissertation provides extensive information on basic skills, several potential directions for future research can be identified. In the introduction of this dissertation, I define basic skills as fundamental skills that are essential both for effective functioning in everyday life and for underpinning the development of more advanced skills. While these basic skills have traditionally been associated with literacy and numeracy, they could encompass a broader range of skills. For instance, critical thinking, problemsolving, communication skills, and social skills become increasingly valuable in today’s economy (Deming, 2017, 2022). Presumably, these skills are relevant for everyday functioning and also support the development of other skills. It might, therefore, be useful to expand the definition of basic skills beyond traditional literacy and numeracy. While literacy and numeracy remain important, the modern world demands additional skills. There is a need to obtain more knowledge on these ‘other’ basic skills. Deming (2022), for instance, notices the lack of understanding of these skills and their development. The author mentions, among others, the fact that these skills are hard to assess as one of the challenges for research on these skills. Another challenge, related to this, is the issue of data availability, which limits the ability to fully explore these skills. This gap in both assessment methods and data presents a key area that future research should focus on. Besides considering other skills, future research could explore different research methods to better capture the development of skills. This dissertation makes a step forward inintegrating a panel VAR method into 144
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