Government-commissioned researchers will investigate how parents testing their children’s DNA for educational performance could create further disparities in schools.
Ipsos MORI is to look at the implications of future genomics technologies on the education sector, under a three-month £50,000 Department for Education and Government Office for Science contract.
The move follows a government research report that said there are more than a thousand genes that relate to educational and cognitive outcomes.
However, the Genomics Beyond Health report said it is “very difficult” to accurately predict a pupil’s educational performance using the available estimates, called polygenic scoring.
