Behavioural Genetics for Education

Yulia Kovas is Professor of Genetics and Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, where she directs InLab – International Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Investigations into Individual Differences in Learning. She is also the director of the Laboratory for Cognitive Investigations and Behavioural Genetics, Tomsk State University (TSU), Russia; co-director of the International Centre for Research in Human Development (TSU); and co-director of the Russian-British Laboratory for Behavioural Genetics, Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Education.  She directs the Russian School Twin Register (RSTR) and leads the mathematics research direction in the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), King’s College, London, UK.Sergey Malykh is Professor of Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Education, where he directs the Laboratory for Developmental Behavioural Genetics and co-directs the Russian-British laboratory for Behavioural Genetics. He is also the Head (Academician-Secretary) of the Department of Psychology and Developmental Physiology of the Russian Academy of Education and co-director of the International Centre for Research in Human Development (TSU). The focus of his research is currently on the genetic and environmental origins of variation in psychological and psychophysiological traits. He is the author of more than 300 publications.  Among them, Foundation of Behavioural Genetics (1998), the first textbook on this topic in Russia. Darya Gaysina is Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Sussex, UK and leads the interdisciplinary research program in Genetics and Psychopathology (EDGE Lab). She is also a member of the Rudd Centre for Adoption Research and Practice. Darya obtained a PhD in Human Genetics from the Russian Academy of Sciences. Her research focuses on exploring environmental and genetic factors, and their interplay, in relation to psychopathology across the life course. She is an author of more than 40 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters.Nicola L. Barclay, Northumbria Centre for Sleep Research, Northumbria University, UK Philipp Barsky' Psychological Institute, Russian Academy of Education, Russia Michel Boivin, École de psychologie, Pavillon Félix-Antoine-Savard, Université Laval, Canada  Mara Brendgen, Département de psychologie, Faculté des sciences humaines, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada Huajian Cai, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Sophia Docherty, MRC Social, Genetic & Development Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, UK Darya Gaysina, Rudd Centre for Adoption Research and Practice, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, UK Elena Gindina, Psychological Institute,Russian Academy of Education, Russia Claire Haworth, University of Bristol, UK Jeffrey Henry, École de psychologie, Pavillon Félix-Antoine-Savard, Université Laval, Canada  Philip Gehrman, Department of Psychiatry & Penn Sleep Centre, University of Pennsylvania, USA Alice M. Gregory, Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK Ansatasia Kazantseva, Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Scientific Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia  Elza Khusnutdinova, Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Scientific Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia; Bashkir State University, Russia Yulia Kovas, Tomsk State University, Russia; Psychological Institute, Russian Academy of Education, Russia; Goldsmiths, University of London, UK Yu L. L. Luo, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Sergey B.Malykh, Psychological Institute, Russian Academy of Education, Russia Rachael E. O'Leary, Department of Psychology, University of Kent, UKMichael J. Parsons, Mammalian Genetics Unit, MRC Harwell, UK Stephen A. Petrill, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, USA Robert Plomin, MRC Social, Genetic & Development Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, UK Kaili Rimfeld, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK Maja Rodic, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK Fatos Selita, Tomsk State University, Russia Tatiana Tikhomirova, Psychological Institute, Russian Academy of Education, Russia Maria Tosto' Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK Adelina Valiullina, Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Scientific Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, RussiaAigul Zainullina, Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Scientific Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

• Foreword; Robert PlominIntroduction from the Editors1. How Genetics Can Help Education; Yulia Kovas, Tatiana Tikhomirova, Fatos Selita, Maria G. Tosto and Sergey B. Malykh2. Gene-environment Interplay and Individual Differences in Psychological Traits; Philipp Barsky and Darya Gaysina3. Gene-environment Correlations in the Context of Parenting and Peer Relationships; Jeffrey Henry, Michel Boivin and Mara Brendgen4. Behavioural Genetic Studies of Reading and Mathematics Skills; Stephen A. Petrill5. Studying Rare Genetic Syndromes as a Method of Investigating Aetiology of Normal Variation in Educationally Relevant Traits; Maja Rodic, Darya Gaysina, Sophia Docherty, Sergey B. Malykh, Kaili Rimfeld, Robert Plomin and Yulia Kovas6. Self in the Mirror of Behavioural Genetics: Reflections from Twin Studies on Self-esteem and Self-concept; Yu L. L. Luo and Huajian Ca7. The Nature and Nurture of Wellbeing; Claire M.A. Haworth8. Molecular Genetic Investigations of Personality: From Candidate Genes to Genome Wide Associations; Anastasia Kazantseva, Sergey B. Malykh, and Elza Khusnutdinova9. Behavioural Genetic Studies of Child and Adolescent Psychopathology; Elena Gindina and Darya Gaysina10. Genetic Research on Sleep, Sleep Disturbances and Associated Difficulties; Alice M. Gregory, Michael J. Parsons, Nicola L. Barclay, Philip Gehrman and Rachael E. O'Leary11. The Role of Genetic and Environmental Risk Factors in the Aetiology of Suicidal Behaviour; Aigul Zainullina, Adelina Valiullina and Elza Khusnutdinova12. Genetically Informative Investigations of Neurophysiological Traits; Sergey B. Malykh13. Conclusion: Behavioural Genomics and Education; Yulia Kovas and Sergey B. Malykh

Review 1 The project proposes a book comprising 15 chapters that will be written by a variety of academics broadly in the fields of behaviour genetics and psychology. It is to be edited by three authors, Professor Sergey Malkyh, Dr Yulia Kovas and Dr Darya Gaysina. The book proposes to address how information from 'psychology, quantitative genetics, molecular genetics, neuroscience, and others' has 'implications... for understanding of complex educational processes'. The proposal's strengths include contributions from some leading behaviour geneticists in the field. I can speak highly of one of the editors, Dr Yulia Kovas, who is a well-trained and informed behaviour geneticist. She has worked as a teacher in Russia and has a broad and interesting portfolio of research relating to individual differences in learning and education. I do not know the other two editors. The authors of the chapters include a respected and highly cited behaviour geneticist with expertise in childhood sleep problems and related psychopathology (Dr Alice Gregory). Dr Claire Haworth, another rising star in behaviour genetics, is likely to write a chapter on the nature and nurture of wellbeing that will be of high quality and interest to fellow academics. As such, the book looks like it will be a very good quality book of edited chapters written by academic and suitable for an academic audience. The structure seems well thought out. As the authors say, public and academic understanding of how to synthesise genetic findings with educational practices is naive and requires many things, including more discussion of the issues raised, better understanding of the science, and public debate with policy-makers. I thought the authors could have provided a stronger argument in the 'Market Need' section. Nevertheless, this book will contribute to this important area. In terms of the existing literature, a high profile lay book 'G is for Genes' has just been published (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Genes-Education-Achievement-Understanding-Childrens/dp/1118482786). It received a huge amount of press coverage and deservedly so: it is written by one of the leaders in the field of behaviour genetics, Professor Robert Plomin, together with Dr Kathryn Asbury, who is a brilliant writer and excellent communicator of ideas in the fields of education and genetics. While the authors of the proposal suggest the two books will complement each other I remain unconvinced because the proposal is not convincingly selling a lay-person book. In this vein, probably the key weakness of the proposal lies in the lack of clarity regarding the desired audience for the book. The authors seem confused on this point. On page two the editors write that 'this book will be of interest to teachers, parents, educational and developmental psychologists, and researchers in different fields'. In contrast, later in the proposal, in the Primary Market section, there is no mention of teachers and parents, but here suggestions jump around from researchers, practitioners, policy makers, undergraduates and postgraduates. This does not read like a 'primary market' but like a list of everyone the authors could potentially think would buy the book (but strangely no mention of the parents mentioned earlier on!). The titles of the chapters also give away a lack of thought about the audience, some being accessible for a lay audience ('How genetics can be helpful in education'), others being written for a specialist academic audience ('Negative psychological consequences of stress: The role of genetic risk and resilience factors'). A smaller point, but there were notable instances of rather awkwardly-phrased English (e.g. 'To date, no universal, effective for each child educational methods exist'). Once the authors have pinned down a clearer primary audience, I am sure they can improve the language. To improve the book for publication, my recommendation is that the authors think hard who their primary market could be and then rethink the title and chapter headings to be aligned with one another and suited to that market. The authors need to convince academics and students that they require this book beyond what they can access freely on the internet on e.g. Pubmed if they go for an academic audience, which would seem the most suitable given the book's current content. Review 2 OutlineThe proposed book is to use chapters from specialist authors, most of them Russian, to examine how knowledge of genetic differences should influence educational practice. It starts from an assertion that 'unique genetic profiles' are a basis for educationally-relevant differences (for example in ability, motivation and achievement) and then moves into the assertion that 'effective educational programmes', implicitly for all learners, will 'take into account each student's individual psychological profiles with their complex genetic and environmental aetiology.' The proposed chapters address a range of educationally-relevant topics, in each of which genetic factors undoubtedly do play a part. It is likely that these chapters will present the relevant evidence from developmental behaviour genetics powerfully and that they will be of interest to specialists. The first assertion above is largely uncontroversial, though the focus on differences can lead to an under-emphasis on similarities, but if the proposed chapters provide a careful mapping of the evidence on how this works that would of some interest. The second assertion is much more problematic, and the argument needs to be carefully examined. There are two key problems. The lesser is that no social system in education or elsewhere 'takes into account' any sort of individual differences in 'psychological profiles with their complex genetic and environmental aetiology' in the fine-grained way that the proposal implies; thus the suggestion of improving educational practice is tenuous. The greater is that the chapter titles, and the authors' other publications, suggest a deeper commitment to developmental behaviour genetics than to the other ways of looking at 'psychological profiles' with a 'complex aetiology'. It may be that the proposed chapters do address non-genetic factors adequately, but the proposal does not show this clearly. Without the chapters, it is also impossible to be confident that the English used will be as clear and accessible as is necessary to convey the complex educational implications of the complex science that needs to be covered. Finally, I think the authors have not thought carefully enough about the audience they are aiming at. Just as they are proposing to address an enormously wide range of topics and scientific approaches, their proposed audiences are varied, and very unlikely to begin reading the book with comparable knowledge, expertise, or interests.