Play is vital to pre-school education, says report

Reading children stories and asking them to solve problems were important aspects of basic education, Professor Kathy Sylva of Oxford University found.

But poorer parents had to be coaxed to do this by pre-school staff.

Prof Sylva, who carried out the research for the Effective Provision of Pre-School Education project, said attending pre-schools made an "important contribution" to redressing the imbalance.

And services offered by state nursery schools were actually more effective than those run privately, Prof Sylva added.

'Long debate'

The government has promised �1.6bn to the sector by 2006.

Earlier this week, a report released by a coalition of children's charities found the class divide in education began to set in at 22 months.

But in recent years several educationalists have claimed children should not be pushed into formal education too early, as this might be counter-productive.

Prof Sylva acknowledged there had been a "long debate" on the issue, but emphasised the importance of "play" to facilitate learning.

She said: "The most effective pedagogy is both 'teaching' and providing freely chosen yet potentially instructive play activities."

Education minister Baroness Ashton said: "Disadvantaged children particularly benefit from good quality early years provision.