This work analyzes ideas of functional literacy of the students which become popular after participation of Russia in the PISA international testing. It is shown that functional literacy reflects utilitarian ideas about adaptation to social conditions and can’t be considered as one of the main purposes of training. The study presents the results of determination of functional literacy of pupils from the 9^th classes in gymnasium №42 in Barnaul. It is shown that the natural-science direction of training has more beneficial impact on results of testing within the tasks offered by the international organizations, than humanitarian.

Key words: literacy, functional literacy, testing of pupils.