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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Schooling in war zones, mobile phone engagement study and irregular bedtimes

Education research: irregular bedtimes on school nights can have an impact on reading and maths tests as well as spatial ability, say scientists at University College London. Photograph: Alamy

Researchers at Harvard have been looking at the effect of giving pupils mobile phones and then texting them messages to encourage them to participate in school.

More than 2,000 pupils aged 11 to 13 in Oklahoma took part in the study. The pupils were randomly allocated to four different groups; two groups were sent daily text messages, one group received credits for reading books while the last group acted as a control group.

The text messages were designed to highlight the value and importance of education to the pupils and included messages such as: "Each year high school students make $21,023. College graduates make $58,613. Do the math."

The report shows the students did change their views about education and they reported that they put in extra effort at school. However, the authors found the experiment made no impact on the students' attendance, behaviour in school or achievement and they felt that this was because the benefits of education were seen as too far in the future and wasn't worth them making an effort now.

A new paper has been released calling for urgent action to bring education to the 28.5 million primary age children who live in war zones.

The paper, called Children battling to go to school has been produced by Unesco in partnership with Save the Children to mark the 16th birthday today of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot by the Taliban on her way home from school in October. Globally, the number of children out of school has fallen from 60 million in 2008 to 57 million in 2011. However, the benefits of this slow progress have not reached children in conflict-affected countries; they now make up 50% of children who are denied an education, up from 42% in 2008.

The paper shows that 44% of the 28.5 million children affected live in sub-Saharan Africa, 19% in south and west Asia and 14% in the Arab States. The vast majority, some 95% live in low and lower-middle income countries. Girls, who make up 55% of the total, are the worst affected, as they are often victims of rape and other sexual violence.

In addition to the boys and girls out of school, almost a third of the world's out-of-school adolescents (20 million) live in conflict-affected countries. Some 54% of these are women. Despite this, the research shows that humanitarian aid for education has declined from 2% in 2009 to just 1.4% in 2011.

Scientists at University College London have discovered a link between bedtimes and scores in reading and maths.

The research suggests that children who go to bed at different times on school nights when they are aged three, five and seven do worse in tests of reading, maths and spatial ability.

An irregular bedtime, the researchers said, meant children were suffering more sleep deprivation than children who go to bed at a regular time and it had more of an adverse affect on girls than boys. They believe the lack of routine might impair early development by disrupting the body clock and through sleep deprivation which affects the brain's ability to learn new things and also remember.

The research also found the most significant impact of irregular bedtimes on three year-old children.

The study analysed data on bedtimes and test scores from 11,178 seven year-old children born from September 2000 to January 2002 who participated in the Millennium Cohort Study.

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