Genetics and reading, computer-access study and schooling in Ireland

Researchers have found no link between having home computer access and educational achievement. Photograph: Alamy

Researchers think a child's genetic make-up has only a very small role to play in determining how good they are at reading. The researchers, from the Institute of Education, University of London looked at the relationship between children's reading scores and their social background using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study.

The study focused on three genetic risk factors, which the Avon Longitudinal Study found could have affect reading test scores. The first two genetic risk factors are associated with general reading ability and the third has been linked to reading disorders such as dyslexia.

The results of reading tests, taken at seven, nine and 11 were then divided into five socio-economic groups and the study found that children with professional parents scored on average 60 out of 100; whereas children with unskilled parents scored an average of 42. This left a gap of 18 points but the impact of the three genes which influence reading ability accounted for just 2% of that achievement gap.

The link between having access to a computer at home and the educational achievement of a child has been investigated by researchers from the US National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

Researchers conducted a randomised controlled trial with 1,123 pupils aged 11 to 16 who didn't have access to computers at home across California. Half of the pupils were randomly selected to receive free computers while the other half served as a control group. No training was given to the pupils with the free computers and by the end of the school year data from the schools was used to measure the impact of the computers on a number of educational outcomes.

Findings showed that, although computer ownership and use increased substantially, there were no effects on grades, test scores, credits earned, attendance, or disciplinary actions in the experimental group.

A study in Ireland comparing Irish pupils to their international counterparts has concluded that they are less happy in school and more likely to feel like they don't belong than children in other countries.

The Educational Research Centre study compared 10 year-old children with their peers internationally and found boys are more likely to be unhappy in school than girls and that a high proportion of teachers in Ireland felt pupils were not getting enough sleep and this had an affect on their schoolwork.

However, the report, called National Schools, International Contexts, found that bullying is less of an issue for pupils in Ireland compared to other countries.

The report also found that Irish teachers lacked confidence in teaching science and that only 12 to 40 hours of a three-year teacher training course was spent on science. In school 10 year olds only spend 7% of their time studying science compared to an international average of 10%.

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Michael Gove suggests Wales and Northern Ireland split off school exams

GCSEs and A-levels are currently set to the same standard in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but Michael Gove said it was hard to see how this could continue. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA

The education system is set to splinter into national components, with Michael Gove writing to his Welsh and Northern Irish counterparts to kickstart the separation of GCSEs and A-levels as "a natural and legitimate consequence of devolution".

The education secretary's decision raises the spectre of England, Wales and Northern Ireland all having different secondary school examinations and qualifications, with employers and universities having to distinguish between English, Welsh and Northern Irish GCSEs and A-levels, leading, in time, to the evolution of entirely different education structures, as is already the case in Scotland.

In his joint letter to Leighton Andrews, education minister in the Welsh government, and John O'Dowd, education minister in the Northern Ireland assembly, Gove said "the time is right for us to acknowledge" that the three nations would need to go their separate ways on educational qualifications.

The letter follows a meeting between the three men last week to discuss the subject.

"I recognise that you still have decisions to take on your own reforms to GCSEs and A-levels. It is clear from our discussions, however, that our reforms are leading to very different qualifications in Wales and Northern Ireland from those I believe are right for young people in England," Gove?wrote.

He said he had received advice from Ofqual, the education standards regulator in England, that "it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to maintain comparable standards when the structure, content and even grading of these qualifications are diverging to such an extent".

"I therefore believe that the time is right for us to acknowledge that the three-country regulation of GCSEs and A-levels is no longer an objective towards which we should be working," Gove wrote.

Currently, GCSEs and A-levels are set to the same standard for all three regions. But last summer's GCSE marking fiasco saw a fissure develop between the responses in London and Cardiff, with the Welsh government taking what their English counterparts regarded as a softer stance.

A Whitehall source said: "The Welsh are determined to keep dumbing down their exams. Leighton Andrews interfered with exam boards last year. He opposes our attempts to toughen things up and made clear he will continue to interfere to make things easier. It's better that we all go our own way and defend our positions to our electorates.

"It's been agreed that we will explore what the Northern Irish described as 'a surgical separation'."

The situation is complicated because Wales has no equivalent of Ofqual, with the education minister also acting as standards regulator.

In his letter, Gove warns that Wales and Northern Ireland may have to give up the GCSE and GCE titles. "With this issue resolved, I see no reason why cross-border differences in qualifications should not work between England, Wales and Northern Ireland as they do between our three jurisdictions and Scotland."

A Welsh government spokesman said: "Wales is keeping GCSEs and A-levels, as is Northern Ireland. We wish Mr Gove well with his plans to rename these qualifications in England."

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Plans for first mixed Catholic and Protestant school in Northern Ireland approved

Up to six schools with 3,700 pupils are expected to be based at a former Army barracks in Omagh, Co Tyrone, Stormont's power-sharing government revealed today. The relic of the region's 30-year conflict is to be transformed into a 126-acre development to educate the next generation together.

Democratic Unionist First Minister Peter Robinson has led calls for an end to the "apartheid" of pupils being taught separately according to their religion.

SDLP Planning Minister Alex Attwood said: "The new campus will be at the forefront of shared?education?in Omagh and the North."

Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers this week said renewed efforts should be made to tackle sectarianism which has characterised much of the region's past. The Stormont Executive is still considering a cohesion, sharing and integration strategy.

Schools are already collaborating on a range of subjects in Northern Ireland, encouraged by a mechanism known as area-based planning aimed at making services more efficient.

But more than 92% of children attend either Catholic schools or schools that are mainly attended by Protestant pupils, according to the Ministerial Advisory Group on Shared?Education, with many young people bussed to schools based on their religion.

The ￡100 million-plus redevelopment of the former Lisanelly and St Lucia barracks, straddling the River Strule, will be the first time schools have shared the same site.

Mr Attwood recommended planning approval to the local council today for a development containing up to six schools, including a new special needs centre, sports pitches and car parking.

Schools mentioned in planning documents include Christian Brothers Grammar School, Loreto Grammar, Omagh High, Omagh Academy and Sacred Heart College.

Mr Attwood said: "This is a huge redevelopment scheme which will benefit all of Omagh and the surrounding areas for many years.

"It will create much-needed employment during the development of the site and the construction of the new buildings, and become a model for?education?for the future."

Sinn Fein?Education?Minister John O'Dowd, who is considering recommendations on wider shared?education?policies in Northern Ireland, said: "It will be the largest single investment project ever undertaken in the?education?sector here and will be a massive boost to the economy and in particular the local construction industry."

PA

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