also wish to draw on materials from Part 1 of the module, but these should not be the main focus of your assignment.
The starting point for TMA 02 is a newspaper article from The Telegraph that discusses the challenges children (and their
families) face when starting school. Before you start thinking about how you plan to answer the assignment question, you
should read this article and the TMA guidance notes.
For this assignment, your task is to choose between three and five of the module themes, identify relevant Part 2 materials
relating to your chosen themes, search for further relevant materials outside the module and write an essay discussing
how these themes relate to the article’s claims. The word count for the essay is 3000 words, not including your reference
list, the title and any appendices.
For TMA 02 you are also expected to conduct some of your own research into relevant sources beyond the module
materials: for example, by carrying out a bibliographic search using the Open University Library resources, Google
Scholar or other search tools. This is not a requirement to achieve a ‘pass’ level score, but you can gain significant marks
by demonstrating that you have made use of relevant materials beyond those provided to you.
When searching for and selecting materials, make sure that you evaluate the nature and quality of the content and its
source. If needed, refer to the relevant skills material[Tip: hold ⌘ and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] in the
Week 13 Study Guide for help in searching for and selecting academic articles. It is recommended to also use the E219
Assessment Guide to check the general requirements for assignment writing, referencing and submission.
Your first step during the two weeks allocated for preparing this assignment should be to review your skills development,
with reference to the feedback that you received on TMA 01.
Newspaper article
Parents need more support for children starting school
Name, Date
[…]
The Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY) recently conducted research to help understand
parents’ anxiety around the start of school.
It found that over twothirds
of parents feel anxious about their child starting school with half believing that they are, in fact,
more anxious than their child.
However, there was also another clear finding: most parents want more advice on how to prepare their child for starting
school, with one in four stating that they have too little information from schools and local authorities.
We know from experience that some schools are better than others in supporting families with the transition into school.
But what is clear is that a oneoff
school open evening for parents isn’t enough.
We believe that more could be done by schools and local authorities to help families with the important transition into full1/

time school – and could build on the strong collaboration and support that is already in place between fa