Does anyone remember doing this one? I have heard that quite a few ppl have failed this TMA before. Any tips on helping me through this one - DOs and DONTs?

Yes! I remember it well perhaps largely due to the extensive discussions and time spent on the scale drawing!

I think a definite 'DO' is to listen to what your tutor says especially in relation to the drawing. My tutor was absolutely insistent that the drawing had to be to scale and yes it took me ages! Others really went to town and bought expensive technical drawing programmes etc but I think that is going to far and the OU certainly don't expect us to buy programmes to enable us to do a TMA.

I did measure the space and resources in my setting and then just did my scale drawing with ruler and pencil . I marked resources 1,2 3 etc and had a key to the numbers at the side of the diagram.
I also used a highlighter pen to mark the areas chosen by my research child during the tour. As always the TMA word count is tight and I saved words by putting the childs verbatim speech in the key of the scaled drawing. My drawing was A3.

As for part 2 I think including Bronfenbrenner is a good move! Part of my feedback for this TMA said " I was particularly impressed with your discussion of Bronfenbrenners work and how you linked that with your research - this contributed to your higher grade" I used discussion in part 2 to cover the aspects chosen by the child ( I did 4) and my critical analysis of my findings and through this I illustrated how the environment impacts on children's care, learning and development.

Some of the general 'stuff' that I included/referred to:
Flewitt - ethical issues
Block 2 - giving children a voice
Bronfenbrenner
Reflexivity (Act 1.26 in block 1)
Clark - adapting child conferencing to being conducted 'on the move'
Dahlberg - giving a child agency
Clark - adding meaning to spaces
Strozzi - arrival and departure routines full of meanings and emotions

Oh and of course don't forget to refer to at least one item in your RLO - as it is submitted as an appendix you need to refer to it in text (easy to forget !)

Hope this may be of some help but if not shout. My advice would be to get the drawing out of the way first before tackling part 2 - partly because you need to refer to the drawing in your text in part 2 but also because it is nice to get the 'picture drawing' out of the way and whichever way you choose to do it I think you will find it takes longer than expected!

Thanks for your help Geraldine, I feel ok with Part 2 i think, even though there seems to be so much to cover for such a small word count. Its just the plan thats worrying me! My tutor told me to find a map of the school, which I have done (Child took me around the whole school). On the plan is already a scale.Hopefully this will be ok to use?
So you think if I just label where the child took me and then add what the child said on tour, I should be ok. My tutor doesnt say too much really, she just told me to do what I thought was best? Very helpful! x

Sorry I can't help on the nitty gritty of using a plan that you have not made - it does seem silly not to use a scale plan of the school that is already available though. I am sure students in my cohort were in the same positiion but sorry I can't remember what the outcome was. HOwever, I would clafiry that it is OK to use rather than just going ahead. If your tutor is unhelpful maybe asking on the E215 forum might help - or someone else here may know the answer.

As for what you label on the plan - I labelled everything and then highlighted the areas the child took me to - we did walk round the whole setting ( small preschool) but the child stopped and commented/talked in depth about four particular areas and I focused on these. What does the guidance say about what to include on the plan? sorry but it's a few years since I did the course and though I have all my assignments readily available I don't have easy access to the course materials.
I can PM you my plan if you like - just let me know if it might help

Yes that will be really good if you could PM me your plan, just so that I know what to expect and include. Would really appreciate this! I just find these assignments your always having to guess what you should include! x

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