While the importance of early years education is often stressed, it is equally important that youngsters get a good start to academic life before they enter into a nursery or primary school.

On the day it launches a new education resource – the Early Years Toolkit – the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) says that parents who take a proactive role in their child's learning and development ahead of formal education can "boost progress by five months".

Developed by Durham University, the toolkit states that there is clear evidence that parental involvement in their child's education from the get-go is beneficial and will have a positive impact on later academic success.

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the EEF, said: "Our Teaching and Learning Toolkit is now used by nearly half of all school leaders. I hope this new Early Years toolkit will have an equally strong impact with early years teachers and staff and help them to spend money on disadvantaged pupils in the most cost-effective way."

Dr Kevan Collins, chief executive of the EEF, added that the toolkit isn't designed to dictate best practice. Instead, it digests research gathered from around the world and offers information on the cost and strength of certain approaches.

For example, one of the areas, self-regulation, has been found to be a low-cost and highly effective way of boosting the learning capabilities of youngsters. What this strategy refers to is the ability to review and plan their own learning.

"We think evidence can help early years professionals with the important decisions they make every day, but know that it is often locked away in journals, or written in inaccessible jargon," commented Steve Higgins, professor of education at Durham University.

"We hope that the Early Years Toolkit helps bridge the divide between research and practice and leads to more effective early years provision for all children."