TY - JOUR
T1 - The nature-nurture question
T2 - Teachers' perceptions of how genes and the environment influence educationally relevant behaviour
AU - Walker, Sheila O.
AU - Plomin, Robert
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the parents of the twins in the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) for making this study possible. TEDS is supported by a program grant (G9424799) from the Medical Research Council of the United Kingdom.
PY - 2005/10
Y1 - 2005/10
N2 - Despite a substantial body of research suggesting genetic influence on educationally relevant behavioural traits, it is not clear how the nature-nurture question is perceived by teachers. In order to answer this question, we surveyed 667 UK primary school teachers, and for comparison also surveyed 1,340 parents about their perceptions of genetic and environmental influence on personality, intelligence, behaviour problems, learning difficulties, and mental illness. For these five domains of behaviour, the percentages of teachers who reported that genetics were at least as important as environment were .87, .94, .43, .94, and .91, respectively. Results for parents were similar (.92, .93, .54, .86, and .89). We also found that 80% of teachers reported no coverage of genetics during teacher training.
AB - Despite a substantial body of research suggesting genetic influence on educationally relevant behavioural traits, it is not clear how the nature-nurture question is perceived by teachers. In order to answer this question, we surveyed 667 UK primary school teachers, and for comparison also surveyed 1,340 parents about their perceptions of genetic and environmental influence on personality, intelligence, behaviour problems, learning difficulties, and mental illness. For these five domains of behaviour, the percentages of teachers who reported that genetics were at least as important as environment were .87, .94, .43, .94, and .91, respectively. Results for parents were similar (.92, .93, .54, .86, and .89). We also found that 80% of teachers reported no coverage of genetics during teacher training.
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U2 - 10.1080/01443410500046697
DO - 10.1080/01443410500046697
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:21344449527
SN - 0144-3410
VL - 25
SP - 509
EP - 516
JO - Educational Psychology
JF - Educational Psychology
IS - 5
ER -