Parents who regularly read to their children in infancy may be boosting their academic progress, new research has concluded.
Researchers from the Institute of Education (IoE), University of London, analysed results from primary teacher assessments of pupils in the form of Foundation Stage Profiles, and found that those who had been read to from an early age tended to show advanced school skills.
Dr Kirstine Hansen, one of the study researchers, said: "The relationship between teaching the alphabet and counting is insignificant, but reading every day to a child has a positive effect on their outcomes."
According to the study, children assessed at the age of five tended to be 2.5 months ahead of their classmates if they had been regularly read to by a parent from the age of three.
The IoE was established in 1902 as a training institution for people seeking
education recruitment and has since become a world-recognised education research and teaching centre.
