No gain from keeping twins apart at school

 Twins do not learn better when separated despite a policy of keeping them apart in many schools.

A study argues that there should be no strict rules on the matter and it should be left to the youngsters, their parents and teachers to decide what is best for them.

It found there was “almost no sizeable positive or negative average effect” of classroom separation.

The findings come in a paper, published in Developmental Psychology, led by academics at Goldsmiths, University of London, which analysed information on more than 9,000 pairs of twins aged between seven and 16 in the UK and Canada.

Researchers looked at twins’ academic achievement, based on teacher reports and GCSE results, as well as their cognitive abilities and academic motivation.