Up to 80% of subject choice could be down to genetic influence, making the argument for a more personalised approach to education, say scientists

Students choices when it comes to A-level subjects could largely be down to genetics, a new study suggests.

Scientists say that up to 80% of students’ choices of A-level subjects is down to genetic influence with environmental factors such as home life, accounting for 23% of the choice at most.

The authors claim that the findings support the idea that children should have greater choice in what they study during their school years, together with a more personalised approach to their education.

“We are really arguing that individuals can actively choose and create their own educational experiences partly based on their genetic propensities,” said Kaili Rimfeld, first author of the study from King’s College, London.

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Published in the journal Scientific Reports by researchers from London and the US, the study explored the A-level choices of 6584 twin pairs - including 2318 identical twins - from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), led by co-author Robert Plomin. The research also explored the exam results of the 3308 twin pairs who completed their A-levels at the age of 18.

By looking at the subject choice and exam results of identical twins raised together, compared to fraternal twins, the team were able to unpick the genetic and environmental influence on both subject choice and achievement.

Since identical twins have the same genes, while fraternal twins share only 50% of theirs, a consistently greater difference in subject choice or achievement between fraternal twins compared to identical ones would suggest that genetics played a significant role in such traits.

The scientists found that this was indeed the case, with 50-80% of subject choice down to genetic influences. When the subjects were grouped into humanities and science, mathematics, engineering or technology (Stem) categories, the findings revealed that heritability was 50% and 60% respectively.

By contrast, shared environmental factors such as family experiences had far less clout, accounting for 18% of subject choice for the humanities, and 23% of subject choice for Stem A-levels. The remaining influence was attributed to environmental factors that differed between twin siblings, such as different teachers or friendship groups.

The scientists also discovered that achievement was strongly influenced by genetics, with 59% of A-level performance found to be heritable, while shared environmental factors only explained 7% of the variation in performance. By contrast, the choice to study for A-levels at all was almost equally split between genetic and environmental factors at 44% and 47% respectively.

“What it really shows is we see substantial genetic influence across both humanities and Stem [subjects] and that is both for choice and for achievement,” said Rimfeld.

While the specific genes linked to such influence have not been found, it is thought that thousands of tiny differences in an individual’s DNA each contribute to a very small degree.

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But the authors are quick to point out that “heritability describes what is, not what could be.” Knowledge of a student’s genetic predispositions, for example, could allow teacher to offer more tailored support. “If we could know from a student’s genetics that they would have problems learning to read, for example, then we could intervene early,” said Kaili Rimfeld, first author of the study from King’s College, London.

Michael Reiss of the University College, London, Institute of Education, agrees. “The difficulty is that most people hear the word genetics and think inevitability,” he said.

But, Reiss points out, the message is far more positive. “If the environment varies a lot, the genetics usually becomes a bit less important,” he said. “So if we really made an effort, for example, to get more girls into doing A-level physics, I would expect the heritability of A-level physics choice to come down.”

Ewan Birney, joint director of the European Bioinformatics Institute, said the results were not surprising. “In my own view it’s almost certain that underlying things - like ability to concentrate, and ability to spell will alter A-level choices - for example, someone less comfortable on spelling is more likely to be drawn to maths and physics.”

But while the heritability for subject choice appears to be high, Birney warns that the findings do not imply that it is possible to predict a student’s subject choice, or achievement, from their genome. Educational experiences are likely to differ widely between schools, while different A-levels may be on offer.

“Most of these decisions are taken by people as individual agents - not driven by their DNA,” said Birney. “It’s good to help understand and research education, but far less relevant on an individual basis. As schooling and other factors vary greatly from person to person it is unlikely that genetics is the dominant factor in A-level choice.”