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This is the first large-scale survey of young people's views on communication skills in the UK. The purpose of this survey was three-fold. Since a search of the published literature had highlighted real gaps in knowledge, the author and her colleagues wanted answers to the following questions: What do young people think about communication skills? Are they confident in their skills and how important do they think these skills are at school, in the workplace or in wider society? This report explores these issues by gender. An online survey was conducted in June/July 2010. Overall, 6,865 young people aged 8 to 16 from 47 schools participated in the online survey. 46 were schools from England, one was from Wales. There was an almost equal gender split in the sample, with 51.5% of boys (N = 3,511) and 48.5% of girls (N = 3,309) participating in this survey. Findings reveal that while boys and girls agreed on the importance of good communication skills to succeed in life, at school, at university/college and in the workplace, there were some interesting differences between girls and boys in terms of their understanding of what good communication skills are, how they view these skills and how confident they are using certain communication skills. It is perhaps particularly interesting that boys generally rate themselves as more confident communicators with people in authority (teachers) as well as known and unknown adults than do girls. Boys also appear to be more concerned about the social implications of communication, being more concerned than girls about a perceived link between communication and intelligence for example. (Contains 7 tables and 6 figures.) [Funding for this paper was provided by The Communication Trust.]

This document reviews how performance indicators are currently being used in several Commonwealth countries the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, and identifies some of the issues associated with performance indicator development and application. It also examines whether there are any agreed upon "key", or common, indicators that can be applied universally. After briefly discussing the background of the study and defining the terminology of, the audiences for, and applications of performance indicators, the paper reviews sources of higher education data published by government, government agencies, or national university organizations, and discusses developments in the application of performance indicators. Case studies from the U.K., Australia, and Canada are used to examine five types of indicators: student indicators, such as population, progression/completion rates, destination and satiation; staff indicators; resource and financial indicators; research indicators; and estate management/physical resources indicators. The characteristics of "good" indicators and various concerns surrounding the use of indicators are also addressed. Findings suggest that performance indicators need to be related to institution objectives, should be used with other measures, and cannot presently be used to compare institutions in different countries. Appendices include lists of sources, publications, and contacts; a comprehensive list of possible indicators, and core indicators recommended by the Council of Ontario Universities. (BF)