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This article reports on research into Chinese students' perceptions of a pilot key skills' communication course introduced in three vocational education institutions in China. The course was based on key skills' criteria formulated in 2004 by China's Vocational Qualification Appraisal Committee and produced in response to the changing demands of employers operating in a global environment of growth and competition. Intrinsic to the initiative, was the use of student-centred learning as opposed to the more didactic methods traditionally used in Chinese education. Through institutional case studies, focus groups, class observations and interviews, data was gathered to reveal views and underlying perceptions of the new course. The findings reported here focus on Chinese students' understanding of communication key skills and their changing attitudes to student-centred learning. The development of the students' self-awareness and self-confidence as a result of the new programme is examined and analysed.

Classroom observations are an important source of information about teaching and about the practice of particular teachers. The paper considers the value placed on talk as opposed to silence in this context and suggests that a cultural bias towards talk means that silence is commonly perceived negatively. The paper is based on a qualitative research study involving interviews with 25 teacher participants. These participants identify different types of silence and report how they use various silences in the classroom, suggesting that many different types of silence may be used productively in teaching and learning. The paper provides examples of questions that might be asked when observing teachers' uses of silence rather than talk. It concludes by proposing that classroom observations should take into account the complex skills of "silent pedagogy" where the teacher makes conscious decisions to abstain from intervention based on continuous sensitive readings of the learning environment. (Contains 1 table.)

Notes that financial pressures in British further education colleges are causing some downgrading of lecturers' skills. Examples of human resource development in industry show the need to recognize the sophisticated professional work lecturers perform and to invest in appropriate staff development. (SK)

This article reports on research into Chinese students' perceptions of a pilot key skills' communication course introduced in three vocational education institutions in China. The course was based on key skills' criteria formulated in 2004 by China's Vocational Qualification Appraisal Committee and produced in response to the changing demands of employers operating in a global environment of growth and competition. Intrinsic to the initiative, was the use of student-centred learning as opposed to the more didactic methods traditionally used in Chinese education. Through institutional case studies, focus groups, class observations and interviews, data was gathered to reveal views and underlying perceptions of the new course. The findings reported here focus on Chinese students' understanding of communication key skills and their changing attitudes to student-centred learning. The development of the students' self-awareness and self-confidence as a result of the new programme is examined and analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]