Identifying the graduates of the future – at birth

Background, money, DNA are factors

A CHILD’S academic success could be predicted at birth, a study led by the University of York suggests.

Research by the Yorkshire university has found that parents’ socioeconomic status and children’s inherited DNA differences are powerful predictors of educational achievement.

However, the research suggests that having the genes for school success is not as beneficial as having parents who are highly educated and wealthy.

In the study, only 47 per cent of children with a high genetic propensity for education, but a poorer background made it to university, compared with 62 per cent with a low genetic propensity but parents that are more affluent.

The researchers found that children with a high genetic propensity for education who were also from wealthy and welleducated family backgrounds had the greatest advantage with 77 per cent going to university.

Meanwhile, only 21 per cent of children from families with low socioeconomic status and low genetic propensity carried on into higher education.

Lead author Professor Sophie

von Stumm, from the Department of Education at the University of York, said: “Genetics and socioeconomic status capture the effects of both nature and nurture, and their influence is particularly dramatic for children at the extreme ends of distribution.

“However, our study also highlights the potentially protective effect of a privileged background.

Having a genetic make-up that makes you more inclined to education does make a child from a disadvantaged background more likely to go to university, but not as likely as a child with a lower genetic propensity from a more advantaged background.

“While the findings of our study are observational, they do suggest that children don’t have equal opportunity in education because of their different genetics and family backgrounds. Where you come from has a huge impact on how well you do in school.”

The study looked at data from 5,000 children. Researchers analysed their test results at key stages of their education as well as their parents’ educational level and occupations.

They used genome-wide polygenic scoring – a statistical technique which adds up the effect of DNA variants – to test how inherited genetic differences predict children’s educational success.

They found that children with high scores differed significantly in achievement at age seven from children with low scores.

This achievement gap steadily widened between the groups throughout the school years leading to an equivalent difference in grades by the time children were taking their GCSEs.