Psychology News
Dr Claire Haworth talks to the BBC: Differences in students' GCSE scores owe more to genetics than environment
The degree to which students' GCSE exam scores differ owes more to their genes than to their teachers, schools or family environments, according to new research from Kings College London published today in PLOS ONE.
The authors explain that the findings do not imply that educational achievement is genetically pre-determined, or that environmental interventions are not important, but rather that recognising the importance of children's natural predispositions may help improve learning.
Researchers compared the GCSE exam scores of over 11,000 identical and non-identical 16 year old twins from the Medical Research Council (MRC) funded Twins Early Development Study (TEDS). The GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) is a UK-wide examination at the end of compulsory education.
Identical twins share 100% of their genes, whereas fraternal (non-identical) twins share on average only half of the genes that vary between people. Therefore, if identical twins' exam scores are more alike than those of non-identical twins, the difference in exam scores between the two sets of twins is due to genetics, rather than environment.
The researchers found that for compulsory core subjects (English, Mathematics and Science), genetic differences between students explain on average 58% of the differences between GCSE scores. In contrast, 29% of the differences in core subject grades are due to shared environment - such as schools, neighbourhoods or families which twins share. The remaining differences in GCSE scores were explained by non-shared environment, unique to each individual.
Interview with Dr Claire Haworth, with kind permission of the BBC World TV News: