Ethical Implications of Behavioral Genetics on Education

Schenker, Victoria J.; Petrill, Stephen A.

doi:10.1017/9781316340301.010

Cited by 1 publication

(3 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Using genetically derived information to contribute to more “personalized” education (Asbury et al, 2017), by optimizing environments that play to students' genetically driven strengths (Schenker & Petrill, 2017), is not guaranteed to result in solely positive outcomes—for children or school systems. Firstly, recent evidence suggests that polygenic scores may not be better predictors of educational progress than more commonly used indicators of family (dis)advantage (Morris, Davies, & Davey Smith, 2020) or existing assessment tools (Bishop, 2015; Shero et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Proposed benefits include the potential for more precise evaluations of educational interventions depending on genetic risk (Harden & Koellinger, 2020), the possibility of personalized education (Grigorenko, 2007), and the potential to identify risk of learning disabilities much earlier in childhood development than is currently possible (Latham, 2017). By contrast, others have argued that a knowledge of genetics will not improve already existing structural inequities in school systems (Panofsky, 2015) and have cautioned about the ethics of extrapolating from behavior genetic findings to educational policy and practice (Asbury & Wai, 2020;Roberts, 2015;Sabatello, 2018;Schenker & Petrill, 2017;Turkheimer, 2015). In particular, Tabery (2015) argued that discrimination may arise because of an acknowledgment of genetic influences in explanations about educational abilities and progress.…”

Section: Educational Genetics Research For Teachers and Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By contrast, others have argued that a knowledge of genetics will not improve already existing structural inequities in school systems (Panofsky, 2015) and have cautioned about the ethics of extrapolating from behavior genetic findings to educational policy and practice (Asbury & Wai, 2020; Roberts, 2015; Sabatello, 2018; Schenker & Petrill, 2017; Turkheimer, 2015). In particular, Tabery (2015) argued that discrimination may arise because of an acknowledgment of genetic influences in explanations about educational abilities and progress.…”

Section: Educational Genetics Research For Teachers and Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Teaching the Teachers the Genetics of Learning: An Application of the Mixed Blessings Model

Larsen

Little

Byrne

2022

Mind Brain and Education

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Decades of educational genetics research have highlighted that differences in academic achievement are partly explained by genetic variation between individuals. Consequently, there is ongoing discussion about whether genetic influences on educationally related traits should be more widely acknowledged in schools and communicated specifically to teachers. Nonetheless, there is little research on how teachers might interpret such information, and how it might alter their perceptions of the students they teach or their teaching practice. In this review, we draw on the mixed blessings model proposed by Haslam and Kvaale, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2015, 24, 399–404, as a framework for defining both positive and negative repercussions of disseminating the findings of educational genetic research to teachers. We discuss research examining teacher perceptions of student ability and behavior and findings outlining perceptions of psychological disorders when genetic explanations are invoked. We conclude by proposing new directions for research designed to better understand interpretations of genetic information in school contexts.

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