School of Education

Education Foundations Department

EDF 411: Sociology of Education

End of Semester One Examination

Date: _________________ Official Time Allowed: Two and Half Hours

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. This paper contains 13 questions and page range from 0 to 9. Please check!
2. Answer all questions.
3. Use the spaces that are provided to answer all the questions.
4. Please do not use more than the space provided for each question.
5. Write your registration number on each page of this exam paper.
6. Think before you answer any question.
7. Make sure that your handwriting is clear and legible.
8. Please provide brief answers without repeating the stem of a question

0
Questions: Total Marks = 100%
Answer all Questions by providing brief answers in the spaces provided

1. Explain any three strategies the Malawi Government uses to provide equal education
opportunities to her citizens? (6 Marks)

a. _____________________________________________________________________
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b. _____________________________________________________________________
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c. _____________________________________________________________________
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2. Despite the strategies in (1) above, explain four reasons why there are still education
inequalities in Malawi (8 Marks)

a. _____________________________________________________________________
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b. _____________________________________________________________________
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c. _____________________________________________________________________
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d. _____________________________________________________________________
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3. One Education Minister argued that his/her Ministry of Education has provided all schools
(both private and public) in the country with adequate qualified teachers, adequate teaching
and learning resources and all school buildings and environment have been improved to the
same level. He/she then concluded that all children from both high and low socio-economic
statuses will be able to compete and perform equally and those who will fail, it will be due to
their intellectual incapability.

a. How would the functionalists respond to the Minister’s argument? (3 Marks)

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b. How would the conflict theorists respond to the Minister’s argument? (3 Marks)

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4. According to Pierre Bourdieu, education functions as an agent of cultural and social

reproduction.

a. What does Bourdieu mean by saying that the function of education is for cultural
reproduction; and what does he mean by saying the function of education is for social
reproduction? (6 Marks)

By saying the function of education is for cultural reproduction he means:

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 By saying the function of education is for social reproduction he means:
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b. In relation to Bourdieu’s perspective, briefly explain what you perceive as a

relationship between the function of education as cultural reproduction and the function
of education as social reproduction? (8 Marks)

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c. Briefly explain one example whereby public education in Malawi is involved in

reproduction of social inequality. (5 Marks)

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5. Gender Inequality is one of the subjects which different sociologists have debated upon:

a. How would the structural functionalists look at gender inequality? (2 Marks)

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b. How would you react to the functionalists’ view of gender inequality? Give one reason
for your answer? (5 Marks)
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c. As a teacher, explain any two ways you would promote gender equality in your
classroom teaching process (4 marks).
• ________________________________________________________________________
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• ________________________________________________________________________
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• ________________________________________________________________________
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6. A student suffered from COVID-19 and was put in an isolation for two weeks. While he was
in isolation, a teacher administered an exam to the other students. When the student
recovered, he requested the teacher to administer to him the exam he had missed while he
was sick but the teacher refused, cursed him and told him that he would give him a zero.

a. What three roles of a teacher did this teacher violate? (6 marks)

i. _______________________________________________________________
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ii. _______________________________________________________________
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iii. _______________________________________________________________
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b. Why does society establish for teachers, standards of conduct, which it does not
expect from other professions? (4 marks)

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7. How did the Western colonizers manage to create a culture of dependency, mental enslavement
and a sense of inferiority on the colonized Africans? Explain two ways: (4 Marks)

i. _____________________________________________________________________
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ii. _____________________________________________________________________
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8. As a teacher, how will you correct what Western colonizers created in Africans through your
teaching? (explain two ways) (4 Marks)

i. _____________________________________________________________________
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ii. _____________________________________________________________________
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9. Briefly explain how cultural capital affect education of children from different socio-economic
statuses? (4 Marks)
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10. According to the interactionist perspective, “a human being is viewed as an active participant
in the social world”.

a. Guided by this interactionist perspective, what three teaching methods can you use in
your teaching process? (3 marks).

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b. Explain why you think the teaching methods you have mentioned in (10. a.) above are
in line with the interactionist perspective (3 marks)

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c. Guided by the interactionist perspective, what four mental processing terminologies

would you use to frame students’ tasks (4 marks).

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11. It has been argued that indigenous knowledge has been marginalized in formal learning in
Africa.

a. How does the inclusion of indigenous knowledge enhance children’s learning at

school? (4 marks)

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 b. What three examples of indigenous knowledge would you propose to be included in
the formal learning in the Malawian education? (3 Marks)
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12. Apart from guided by the Malawi Public Sector Regulations (MPSR), teachers have also their
own regulations.

a. Can you explain why teachers are guided by their own regulations apart from the
MPSR? (3 Marks)

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b. Explain why should a teacher not indulge in sexual relationships with their students
when other professionals can indulge in sexual relationships with their clients? (3
Marks).

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13. One secondary school teacher prepared a lesson plan and ready to teach. In the classroom, she
greeted the students and outlined the objectives of the lesson. She then told the students a short
story and linked it to what she was about to teach. She further clearly structured her lesson in
stages and at each stage, she clearly explained the concepts she wanted the students to learn.
She then put the students in groups to list down the major concepts she had taught them and
their definitions and later present their work to the class as a whole. Finally, she concluded the
lesson by summarizing main points of the lesson and then gave students well detailed notes.

a. What main sociological theory of education guided the teacher in her teaching? (1
mark)
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b. Explain three reasons for your answer in (14.a) above. (6 marks)

i. _______________________________________________________________
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ii. _______________________________________________________________
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iii. _______________________________________________________________
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END OF EXAM

WISHING YOU REWARDING EXPERIENCES IN YOUR PROFESSION!!!!