The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment is the world’s biggest comparative survey of educational outcomes, targeted at 15-year-olds and currently operating in almost 70 countries around the world. In this presentation the author introduces the PISA project, and some of the things we can learn from such a survey. He outlines the elements of the mathematics framework that will underpin the next round of the PISA survey in 2012, which will have mathematics as the major survey domain. The author's main goal, however, will be to give you a feel for some research findings acquired through his work in the PISA project, related to a set of what are variously called ‘mathematical competencies’, or more recently ‘fundamental mathematical capabilities’ that lie at the core of the PISA Mathematics assessment framework. Recent and ongoing research has provided evidence about the central role these competencies play in driving mathematical literacy. He argues that these competencies should be targeted directly in our mathematics classrooms.