Author Dr Sebastian Suggate from the University of Otago in New Zealand said he decided to carry out the research because, apart from a small study from 1974, he was unable to find any research to back up the widely held view that children should learn to read from the age of five.
He said his findings showed that this view was 'contestable'.
The study will lend force to the argument of many early years experts that children are being pushed into formal schooling too early with no real benefit.
This month the DCSF is sending out Government guidance to all nurseries and childminders advising them on how to encourage three-and four-year-old boys to write (News, 7 January).
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