BOTSWANA OPEN UNIVERSITY

Junior Certificate Programme

MORAL EDUCATION
UNIT 3

MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Margin icons

While working through this Course material you will notice the frequent use of margin icons.
These icons serve to “signpost” a particular piece of text, a new task or change in activity; they
have been included to help you to find your way around this Course material.
A complete icon set is shown below. Familiarise yourself with the icons and their meaning
before starting your study.

Learning Objectives References

Glossary Bibliography

Activity Unit Aims

Time
Unit Outcomes

Unit Assessment
i Introduction

Self-assessment Exercise Further Reading

Summary
Acknowledgements

This unit is a product of many people who worked hard to see it ready for use by BOU learn-
ers. BOU wishes to acknowledge contributions of the following:

Programme Development Officer

Tebogo Ethel Seretse

Writers
Peter Rathari

Content Editor
Girlie Molefhe

Editor
Naomi Molokomme

DTP
Mompoloki Oitsile

Cover Illustration

© 2019 BOU

All rights reserved. Reproduction, copying and all forms of transmission are only in
accordance with the national copyrights Laws that are:

Please, address correspondences to:

The Vice Chancellor

BOU
Private Bag BO 187
Tel: 3181470
Fax: 3181473
Gaborone
Botswana
JC: Moral Education Unit 3

Contents Page nos.

Introduction to Unit 3
Lesson 1: Family life 1
Lesson 2: Agents of change in Community 19

Answers to self-assessment exercises

Self-assessment exercise 1 37
Self-assessment exercise 2 38

JC: Moral Education Unit 3

Introduction To Unit 3
Moral Development

i Introduction
Welcome to Unit 3, this unit deals with moral development . It is aimed at helping you to take
responsibility over your moral behaviour. . You will have to remember what you learned in
Unit 1 about morality and what you studied in Unit 2 about being self-confident, assertive
and having high self-esteem.

In Unit 3, we will discuss the role of the family in moral development of a child, that is,
how the family teaches and guides a child to behave in a responsible manner. You will learn
about agents of change in the community through identifying and discovering how these
agents of change shape the behaviour of the child in the community.

Unit Structure
The unit is made up of three lessons and the lessons are as follows;
Lesson 1: Family life
Lesson 2: Agents of change in the community

Unit Aims
At the end of this unit you should be able to:
• Understand family life in Botswana
• Understand agents of change in the moral development within communities

Assessment
You will be assessed in three ways as follows:

(a) Activities
Activities are provided at the end of each sub-topic to check your understanding of the
sub-topics discussed. You can find the feedback to these activities at the end of every
activity. Use the feedback to counter check your answers and see how well you have done on
the activities of the lesson.

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(b) Self -assessment exercise

There is a self-assessment exercise at the end of each lesson that you will have to answer and
mark yourself. This will help you find problem areas of your study materials. The feedback to
this exercise is found at the end of the unit. Use it to cross check your answers.

(c) The tutor-marked assignment (unit test)

This is the test covering the whole unit. The test will prepare you for final examinations.
Therefore you should take this test seriously. Consult your tutor for clarification where
necessary.

Resources
Besides this unit, you can read the core text books prescribed for Moral Education. Learner,
Social Studies, Setswana, and Home Economics textbooks also have a topic on family life,
use them to find out more information. Visit the library near you to research more about the
impact of change on behaviour. You can use the Social Studies module to read more about
agents of change in the community to see how change can affect the behaviour of children in
the community.

Time
I expect you to have finished studying this unit within four weeks. Study the materials and
ensure that you understand everything in it and complete the unit assignment. But if you can
finish it in less time spend more time revising your self- evaluation exercises. You may now
proceed with the first lesson in Unit 3.

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Lesson 1
Family Life

i Introduction
In this lesson, we are going to learn about family life, including the roles played by the family
in developing morality of children. Moral development means teaching a child to differentiate
between what is good or bad and/or right or wrong. As you know we are from different
families, therefore we have different ideas about what is important in life. Our way of
thinking or living is different because of the way we are socialised in our different families.
You will learn more about this at the end of this unit.

Families can be large or small, or have one or two parents or have no parent at all. They
can also include brothers, and sisters, as well as aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins.
Some of you stay in large
families with your father, mother or relatives commonly known as extended family. Others
stay with father and mother only; the nuclear family. There are those who stay with either
father or mother alone, known as single parent family. Within the single parent families there
may be some relatives staying with them while at other times there are no relatives
staying with the family. You can see that a family could be a complex concept that one needs
to understand.
In this lesson, we are going to define a family and then identify the types of families. We
will also discuss the rights and responsibilities of a family and the role of family in the
moral development of a child. Lastly, we shall look at the cultural norms and values of
family in Botswana, as well as how families can manage resources and activities within
the family.

First let us look at the lesson objectives.

Learning Objectives
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
• define a family
• explain the role of the family in the moral development of a child.
• analyse the cultural norms and values of family life in Botswana.
• describe how you can manage family resources and activities.

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Resources
Your resources in this lesson could be your personal experience, family – mother, father,
grandparents, cousins, aunt, your brothers or sisters. These are the people you could ask
questions about your family life and get immediate and correct answers. Your grandparents
are the best people to tell you about your family structure as well as teach you about your
responsibilities in the family.

Lesson Contents
1.0 Definition of a family 2
2.0 The role of a family in the moral development of a child 4
3.0 Norms and values of family life in Botswana 6
4.0 Critical analysis of norms and values of family life in Botswana 8
5.0 Managing family resources and activities 12
Summary 14
Self-assessment exercise 1 15
Glossary 18

1.0 Definition of a Family

I assume that each and everyone belongs to a family. So, we are going to use our personal
experiences to explain a family. Brainstorm what you think a family is and write your
responses below.
___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Now, let us examine the different ways of defining the family:

A family is a group of people who are related to each other, especially parents and their
children
• A family consists of mother, father and children.
• A family consists of parents, grandparents, children and relatives
• A family is a group of people living together related by blood, marriage, adaptation or
assimilation

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A family is the smallest human unit in a community in which people live together.

I hope your responses are in line with the above given definitions. Learner, I hope you have
observed in your community that the family is a group of people living together related by
assimilation, marriage, blood or by adoption. Although our families look different you will
agree with me that a family is a group of people in your life who you may be related to by
blood, marriage or choice. This relationship usually lasts for a lifetime.
If you study the definitions well, you will realise that families differ in terms of types. The
other thing that you should bear in mind is how family members are related to each other,
for example through ties of blood, adoption, marriage or assimilation. It is important to note
that a family is a group of people or individuals who are interdependent they need to assist or
support each other. It is in the family where people learn to live together, and the children are
born and brought up.

Mogapi (1993) explains that a family is a ‘seed’ for the community, tribe and the nation. This
means that it is from the family that the society is created and built. The family reproduces
society. It is the foundation of the society. Therefore, it is true that a family is the first group
to which people belong. It is where we come into the world and are given the tools to go out
into the world. That is, we begin in a family, and then as families come together they grow
into a community or live together as a tribe, nation and lastly as members of the global world.

Now learner, let us proceed to find out more about the different types of families in our
community.

1.1 Types of families

In the previous section we mentioned that families can be small or large. There are two main
types of families that differ according to size. They are the extended and nuclear families.

(a) Extended families

Learner, you may have been raised in an extended family since this was the most common
form of family in traditional Botswana society. Extended family refers to a family that
consists of parents, their children and grandparents all living together under one roof. Other
members of the extended family include uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, nieces as well as
brothers and sisters in law. The oldest male member in this family lays rules that guide the
running of the family. However, this form of family is on the brink of disappearing in
Botswana and in many parts of the world as well. Most families who live in big villages and
towns are changing or switching to nuclear family society because of changing lifestyles.

One example of an extended family is a joint family. It is where children of one sex (male)
live at their parents’ house. These children will bring their wives to live with them at the
parents’ house after marriage. The composition of this family may include an older man and
his wife, his sons, unmarried daughters, his sons’ wives and children. The joint family shares
task of trade which can be farming or business, food gathering and preparation and the
responsibility of raising children.

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(b) Nuclear families

One of the major forms of the family is the nuclear family. Traditionally it consists of a
married couple and their children. Today however due to the changes that have taken place in
the society there are different forms of nuclear families. There are single parent headed
families, which can consist of one parent and children such as a mother and her child or a
father and his child.
Other forms of nuclear families may include child headed families, step families or
cohabitation families.
(i) Child headed families
This occurs when children are left without parents in most cases due to death of their parents.
(ii) Step families
Step families can occur when parents are divorced or widowed and they later re-marry. If the
parents had children they will live with them and the children will refer to the parents as
step-parents.

2.0 The Role of the Family in the Moral

Development of a Child
Moral development is building and improving knowledge of right and wrong. Morals deal
with what is right and wrong in human behaviour. It is a process where people learn about
right and wrong ways of behaving.

Therefore some of the roles or purposes of the family in the moral development of a child are
that:
• It teaches children the acceptable ways of behaviour such as respect of the
customs and traditions of our society
• It provides care for the dependants such as children. When the children
become adults they will look after their dependants too.
• It teaches the children the norms and values of their society so that they fit well
into the society.
• It gives children love and support so that they develop to their full potential.
• It provides basic needs like to pay for food, housing and to keep the
children healthy.
• It teaches children good values so that they grow up to be hard working and
responsible in their community.
• It teaches children to accept rules and authority so that they can abide by
the law as citizens thus becoming responsible citizens of tomorrow..
• Everyone in the family especially children need protection and security.
• It provides children with basic needs food, shelter and security.

Collectively, a family helps children to address certain needs such as the following:

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• Material – things that are needed by the child to live such as money that we
need to buy one’s food and clothing. It may also refer to the building of
shelter or house for the children.
• Moral – by teaching children what is right and wrong through socialisation.
• Emotional – with the love and care to feel secure.
• Physically – with the physical support that we need especially if we are
very young.

Though the family plays a major role in developing the child morally, children also discover
what is right and wrong by:
• imitating or following what they see – for example, they copy the behaviour of
others
• experimentation- they do certain things to find out what happens
• consequences – their behaviour is affected by the outcomes of their actions
• emotions – they do certain things to get the appreciation of other people
• following rules – they also behave in certain ways so as to abide by rules
These are the ways in which we are socialised in the family.

Before, we go to the next section; you must do the activity below to check whether you
understand what we discussed so far.

Activity 1

Spend 5 minutes in this activity

1. What is a family?
_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________
2. Explain any four roles a family has in the moral development of a child
(a)___________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

(b)__________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

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___________________________________________________________

(c)__________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

(d)__________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

Feedback
1. Explanation of a family
• A family is a group of people related either by blood, marriage,
adoption or assimilation.
2. Roles of a family in moral development of a child:
• It gives children love and support.
• It provides basic needs such as to pay for food, housing and to keep
the children healthy.
• It teaches children good values so that they grow up to be hard working
and responsible in their community.
• It teaches children to accept rules and authority so that they can abide
by the law as citizens.

3.0 Norms and Values of Family life in Botswana

What are norms and values? A norm is an unwritten rule about what is accepted as social
behaviour in a society while value is something one considers important. Therefore, norms
are unwritten rules of social behaviour, which influences a way of life of a particular group of
people.
Values are deeply held beliefs about what is good and appropriate and considered most
important by a particular family.

Learner, Botswana as a society has cultural norms and values that directs the behaviour of
the nation. These are found or exercised first in the different families. Since you all belong
to families, I hope you know the norms and values of your family that can make you to fit in
the society. Your family values would be rules or ideals that your family agrees to live by and
stay true to.

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Learner, are you aware that Vision 2016 for Botswana states that the family is an important
institutions that supports the transmission of social values and moral values? The following
are some of the norms and values of family life in Botswana:

(a) Family norms

• Attending and contributing towards relatives funerals
• Attending relatives weddings
• Family members take care of each other, especially when one is sick or disabled.

(b) Family values

You still remember that we said family values are rules and ideals that are considered
important in a family. Some of these values are:

• Respect
Both young and old should respect one another. There is a Setswana proverb which says:
“susu ilela suswana gore suswana a tle a go ilele.”

This means that the old should respect the young as much as they want the young to respect
them. This shows that respect is earned. The only way to earn someone’s respect is to first
show the person respect yourself. Within a family we show the value of respect when we
value everyone’s feelings, thoughts and contribution to the family.
• Honesty
Honesty as a value is the basis for all family relationships. It strengthens the bond between
members of the family. The value of honesty goes hand in hand with that of respect. Honesty
is promoted through practicing understanding and respect.
• Tolerance
This value is promoted in Botswana as a family value since it discourages any form of
discrimination within the family and the nation at large. This tolerance can be extended to
religion as well.

• Forgiveness
Forgiveness is an important value because it reduces conflicts within families. It promotes
mutual respect among members of the family.

• Interdependence
Family members depend on one another in terms of support and help.

• Love
Family members show love to each other through care and support

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• Sharing of responsibilities
Each member has a part to play within the family. The roles may differ according to age,
gender, or position.

• Cooperation
Family members show cooperation in social activities such as weddings, harvesting, holding
family get togethers, and attending funerals.

• Sharing
Batswana value sharing a lot, for example they exercise it through practices like when they
give the needy or the disadvantaged some cattle to look after while at the same time benefit-
ing from milking them. This a practice is known as mafisa.

• Hospitality
Culturally, Batswana welcome and take care of visitors. They provide them with
accommodation, food and clothing.

These are some of the values and norms of Botswana society, now let us critically analyse
these norms and values.

4.0 Critical Analysis of Norms and Values of Family

life in Botswana
Learner, remember that we said that norms are unspoken rules that govern society. Family
norms can be simple like going to church together, celebrating birthday parties, eating family
meals together, having barbecues or braais on Sundays or even setting a particular bedtime
for kids.

Culturally, families in Botswana practice mutual relationship which is revealed in the

Setswana concept of botho, being humane. Botho should be shown to every individual in the
family, children and adults alike. That is, family members do unto others what they expect
others to do for them (Luke 6: 31). For example, loving and respecting one another and shar-
ing goods and ideas. loving and respecting one another and sharing goods and ideas. This is a
good idea as it shows common understanding and encourages peace and
social harmony within family members. Where there is respect for one another there is
always peace and the children are trained to be responsible adults. They would pass on the
same good conduct to their children.

Members of families are interdependent they rely on one another so as to develop as

individuals. There is a saying ‘no man is an island’. Learner, do you know what an island
is? It is a piece of land wholly surrounded by water. It stands alone in isolation. With family
members they need to help one another so as to succeed. I hope you will agree with me when
I say you need your parents to be clothed, to be fed or to pay for your education. Mother
needs father to groom up the children, when done alone it could be tough.

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Families know their moral conduct is expected to satisfy the society at large, which is why
those who have misconduct are punished or reprimanded, to mould them. Those norms and
values are common in most families in Botswana and are a good way of shaping the
individual.

Batswana believe that attending family activities such as a relative’s funeral is a way of
showing loyalty to the family. This is an expected norm even if not all family members are
really loyal to each other. Support for one another is important. Another important norm in
Botswana is that of greeting which not only means greeting someone you know or elders, it
extends even to children and strangers.
Learner, have you ever been at a bus stop? Did you notice that as passengers gather to wait
for the bus they greet each other? This happens because it is a Setswana norm. Some norms
help define the roles of boys and girl, men and women in the family, girls do household
chores such as cooking while boys herd cattle.

In some situations when children are accused of wrong doing they are not allowed to explain
themselves. Explaining oneself or responding back when elders address you is regarded as
showing disrespect. Wearing of black clothes after death symbolises grief. Women wear black
clothes after the death of their husband but men are not expected to change their attire after
the death of their wives.
Some cultural norms are considered unfair by some people. Some women consider the
wearing of mourning clothes as discriminatory, others embrace it as part of their culture.

What are your views on this issue learner? Discuss it during your tutorials. Norms and values
of family life change because today’s culture is dynamic, that is culture is changing because
of the modern lifestyle. People limit the number of children they have while extended fami-
lies are slowly becoming less.

The other family value in Botswana in the past was to have many children and this was
regarded as prestige. Nowadays many people do not want to have many children because of
the financial implications. We no longer rely on the fields and cattle for survival but the
modern way of life demands a lot of money from people to survive. Small families have
become a better option for most people.

Activity 2

Spend 5 minutes in this activity

1. Explain the following terms
(a) Culture
_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

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_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

(b) Norm
_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

(c) Value
_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________
2 Explain any five family values in Botswana
(a)
____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________
(b)
____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
(c)
_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

(d)
______________________________________________________________

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_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

(e)
______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

Check the responses below and compare your answers with mine.
Feedback
1. (a) Culture is a way of life of a particular group of people
(b) A norm is an unwritten standard of social behaviour
(c) A value is an aspect of life a person considers important.
2. Five family values life in Botswana
(a) Respect – Family members respect and honor each other
(b) Love – There is mutual love for one another
(c) Cooperation – Members of the family work well with one another and
assist each other.
(d) Sharing – Members of a family ensure that they are not independent;
they share their belongings and their ideas.
(e) Mutual Support – Family members assist each other financially,
emotionally, socially, and physically.
(f) Hospitality – receiving and welcoming others is greatly accepted.
Visitors are taken care of.

Activity 3

• Use your personal experience to identify different types of families.

• Visit other families and gather information about the examples cultural
norms and
values of families in Botswana. You may ask the older members of the
community or family as they know culture better.

Where possible, discuss your findings with other learners, you may do this in a form
of debate or drama, or even with your family members if you cannot reach other
learners.

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5.0 Managing Family Resources and Activities

Learner, family resources are things that enable us to meet our needs and wants. For example,
a house provides us with shelter, while a family car can take you to school.

5.1 Family resources

Family resources are things that a family owns or possess in order to function or survive.
Families have to manage these resources so that they last. Examples of possessions within the
family can include some of the following:
• money
• food
• clothes
• cattle
• vehicles
• Tools, ploughing fields, livestock, house, borehole or land

These resources should be managed or taken care of in order to support the family. Each
family needs some resources for survival. Below are some ways of managing family
resources.
• Making a budget before the family goes out shopping and following the budget
strictly to avoid overspending. Sticking to the needs such as food, paying bills
and transport and saving the remaining money for emergencies.
• Keep family tools, farm produce in a good place, that is store them properly to
avoid damage by the heat or rain. Repair resources that are damaged if need arise
and take vehicles for service regularly.
• Fix leaking taps, re-use water, for example the water used for washing can be
used to water plants or wash the car. Keep the door for the fridge closed and
switch off lights which are not needed.

5.2 Family activities

Family activities or household duties should be allocated equally to family members to avoid
conflicts. Sharing responsibilities must involve every member of the family. They include
activities like:
• ploughing
• cooking and washing dishes
• sweeping
• herding animals
• washing

In order to achieve this, families can plan well and allocate tasks so that everyone knows
what they have to do and when to do it. Consultation and communication between family

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members would help to manage the resources and activities as it makes it easy for family
members to account when a task is not done. It also encourages members to help each other
and work together as a team.

In short, the family could manage family resources wisely by planning and budgeting,
consultation and communication, co-operation, care and support.

Activity 4

Spend 3 minutes in this activity

1. List any three resources that are a need in a family
(a) ______________________________________________________

(b) ______________________________________________________

(c) ______________________________________________________
2. Give any three activities that family members can perform.
(a) ______________________________________________________

(b) ______________________________________________________

(c) ______________________________________________________
3. Discuss two ways in which family resources can be managed..
______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

Check the answers at the end of the lesson and compare with yours.
Feedback to Activity
1. Family resources
(a) Food
(b) Money

(c) Clothes
(d) Cattle

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2. Family activities
(a) Cooking
(b) Washing
(c) Looking after cattle
(d) Ploughing

3. Ways in which family resources can be managed.

(a) For the good care and support of the family
(b) To involve every member of the family and to show belonging
(c) To use them wisely so that they do not wear out or run out before time.

Summary
Now we have come to the end of our lesson. Let us now try and sum up the main points of
our discussions:
• There are some cultural norms and values that are found in most families in
Botswana, such as respect, love, sharing, and cooperation. Members of the
families support each other and everybody is assisted to have a better life.
• A family is a group of people living together, and related to each other.
• There are different types of families such as nuclear and extended families.
• Family members usually adhere to their norms and values, which enable them to
have a mutual interaction on day to day basis.
• A family has a responsibility towards management of its resources and activities.
The family resources may include property like cattle, finance, and houses etc.

You have now come to the end of lesson.

Try the following exercise to test how much you have understood this lesson.

Self-assessment Exercise 1
Spend 35 minutes on this exercise
Answer All Questions
There are three sections, Section A consists of multiple choice, Section B has short answer
questions while Section C consists of essays.

Section A: Multiple Choice [5 Marks]

1. What does the term ‘family’ mean? It is a
A. Group of people related by adoption, values, norms and blood
B. Group of people who care for each other and are related

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C. Group of people related by blood, marriage, adoption or assimilation

D. Group of people living in the same community
related to each other
2. What is the role of the family in the moral development of a child?
A. Encourage children to break the law
B. Teach the child correct ways of behaving
C. Discourage the child form being kind and honest
D. Teach the child to practice intolerance

3. How can a family manage its resources?

A. Budgeting for wants first
B. Budgeting for needs first
C. Putting money in a container
D. Buying everything they want

4. Which of the following is an example of a family value?

A. Competition
B. Cooperation
C. Intolerance
D. Dishonesty

5. Which one of the following resources can a family survive without?

A. Laptop
B. Shelter
C. Clothing
D. Food

Section B: Short answer questions [5 marks]

1. What is a family [1 mark]
___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________
2. Give two examples of norms of family life in Botswana. [ 2 marks]
___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

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3. Give two examples of family values in Botswana [ 2 marks]

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Section C: Essay
1. Discuss with examples any three ways in which a family can influence moral
development of a child. [ 10 marks]
___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

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___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Your Score Total

Section A ___________ [5 marks]
Section B ___________ [5 marks]
Section C ___________ [10 marks]

Total ___________ [20 marks]

Percentage: ___________ [100 marks]

Use feedback section at the end of the unit to mark your work. If you have scored 70%
and above you may proceed to the next lesson, but if you have scored less than 70%,
please repeat this lesson.

Glossary
Adoption: legally making someone else’s child your own child
Assimilation: is when somebody who is not a blood relative is incorporated
into a family, especially after living with them for a long time.
Culture: is a way of life of a particular group of people
Cultural norm: is an unwritten standard of social behaviour of a particular
group of people.
Cultural value: something that is considered most important by a particular
group of people.
Family: a group of people living together related by blood, marriage,
adoption or assimilation
Extended family: a family made up of parents and children, grandparents and
other relatives.
Moral: is about right or wrong behaviour
Moral development: is building and improving knowledge of right and wrong.

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Norm: an unwritten standard of social behaviour

Nuclear family: a family made up of parents and their children only
Single parent family: a family made up of one parent and his or her children
Socialisation: learning how to behave in society
Value: is something one considers important

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Lesson 2
Agents Of Change In The Community

i Introduction
In the previous lesson, we learned that some norms and values of the family are changing.
We shall now discover how this change occurs in the community. In this lesson we will focus
on agents of change in the moral development within the community. You may be expected
to use knowledge gained in the previous lesson to help understand this topic. Basically, we
will be looking at factors that influence our behaviour in the community, or those things that
lead to behavioural change in our community. As we proceed with the lesson we shall
examine how change brings about behavioural change in individuals, families and the
community.

First let us look at the objectives of this lesson.

Learning Objectives
At the end of the lesson you should be able to:
• outline agents of change that influence our behaviour.
• describe how agents of change influence our behaviour
• evaluate the extent to which agents impact on the individual, family and
community.

Resources
• Your peers
• Parents at home
• The community
• Church.

Lesson Contents
1.0 Agents of change that influence our behaviour. 20
2.0 Factor that influence our behaviour 22
3.0 Impact of the influence of factors on the individual, family and community 31
Summary 33
Self-assessment exercise 2 33
Glossary 37

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1.0 Agents of Change in the Community

You already have an idea of what agents of change in the community are, especially after
reading the introduction. Let us see if you can still remember by writing the explanation in
the space provided below.
__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________
Our introduction says agents of change in the community are those factors that influence our
behaviour. They are called agents of change because they make our behaviour to change or
to be different in certain ways. Behaviour changes due to certain circumstances, which
teaches us right and wrong and affect our moral development.
In this lesson we shall be talking more about the factors that influence behaviour, which are
the agents of change in the community. The two concepts “agents and factors’ mean the same
thing.
Now do the following activity which will help you to focus more by reminding you what
behaviour is all about.

Activity 1

Take 5 minutes working in this activity

State whether the behaviour below is good or bad

Behaviour Good/Bad
(a) Returning your friend’s lost pen (a)
(b) helping your mother cook (b)
(c) bullying others in the play ground (c)
(d) participating in community activity (d)
(e) offering a friend some food (e)
(f) helping an old man cross the road (f)
(g) skipping others in a queue (g)
(h) not greeting others in the morning (h)
(i) breaking other people’s lockers (i)
(j) praying for the sick people (j)

I hope the activity did not give you a problem, find the responses to this
activity below and compare them with yours.

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Feedback to Activity 1
(a) Good
(b) Good
(c) Bad
(d) Good
(e) Good
(f) Good
(g) Bad
(h) Bad
(i) Bad
(j) Good

When a child is born, s/he does not know the difference between right or wrong behaviour.
Later on he/she is taught what is right or wrong as they grow up and develop. This process is
called socialisation. This process helps the children to fit well in our families and commu-
nity. Through the process of
socialisation we copy the behaviour of those living around us.

To get this clear, let us try and attempt the following exercise.

Activity 2

Take five minutes working on this exercise

(a) State two agents of change.
_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________
(b) Explain how the above stated agents change behaviour positively.

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________
(c) Explain how the above stated agents change behaviour negatively.
_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

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Feedback to Activity 2
Compare the feedback below with what you have written and mark for yourself.
(a) I do not know who you have written, but maybe you have listed people like
mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, sister or brother, or even the maid.
The answers may differ depending on who brought you up, or whether you
grew up in an extended family where we have our grandparents, or in a
nuclear family where it was only mother and father and probably sisters and
brothers.
(b) They include: greeting elders, helping the needy, sharing, kneeling down
when washing the elders hands before giving them food and many others.

You probably have had answers for that activity which might be different from mine though
they are still correct. That doesn’t matter; we are taught morality differently depending on
who brought us up. We learn different things from our environment and these are the things
that shape our behaviour.

2.0 Factors that Influence our Behaviour

Let us try and ask ourselves the question; what influences our behaviour? That is, what makes
us have the kind of behaviour we have?
Think about these questions and write your thoughts below.
___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

I believe you were able to derive your answer from our introduction in 1.0

Our behaviour has got various forces that influence us strongly. Some forces pull us towards
good moral behaviour; others pull us towards bad or immoral behaviour. Sometimes these
forces, as young people, we do not know whether they will lead us into trouble or not, only to
realise when we are already engaged in the wrong doings.

Before we identify these factors try and complete this spider-gram in Activity 3.

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Activity 3

Take 5 minutes to complete this task

The following might be some of the factors that influence your behaviour, next
to each arrow write the factor that influence your behaviour (you do not have to
write them all, you only write those that do affect your behaviour).
• Emotions
• Personal values
• Societal values
• Friends
• Religion
• School
• Clubs or societies
• Family
• The media (TV, radio, newspapers)
• Personal experience
• Music
• Celebrities

 

   

Myself
   

   
 

In this activity you can still come up with several possible answers. Read through factors that
influence me below and compare them with your answer. Are there any similarities?. If they
are not like yours do not worry we are different. There are so many factors that can
influence someone’s behaviour. These are the driving forces of our behaviour, they can
change our behaviour for the best or for the worst.

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Feedback to Activity 3

Emotions Societal values Friends

     

Myself
   
Religion Family
 
 
 

Personal experience Media personal values

Now you have an idea of the factors that influence our behaviour, probably they are some of
the answers that you have in your spider gram, which will be quite good.

Let us now list three things that you have learned from school which show moral
development.
(a) ________________________________________________________________________

(b) ________________________________________________________________________

(c) ________________________________________________________________________

You might have written things like:

• Teachers (showing us how to respect them, prefects and the school authorities)
• Respecting other students
• Reading books and newspapers
• Praying and knowing about God
• Coming early to school
• Cleaning the classroom
• Personal hygiene
• Attending lessons

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If you have written something like what I have listed that could really show that you
understand how you learn and acquire behaviour. We shall now go on to look at each one of
the factors and see how they influence our behaviour.

2.1 Peers
From the previous unit (Unit 2) what would you say peer pressure is?
___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

When we were dealing with the topic ‘Relationships’ in Unit 2, one of the relationships that
we talked about was the one we have with people of the same age group with us, who are our
peers. As such peer pressure is the influence that we get from our age mates, either positive
or negative. Our age mates can make us do things that are morally acceptable and those that
are morally unacceptable in our community. Let us now try and work on the following activ-
ity and see if it gives us idea about peer pressure.

Your peer might influence you to drink alcohol, have multiple sexual partners or into having
premarital sex. You have to make a wise decision, which will result in a safer behaviour. The
following story will give you further understanding of how peer pressure can influence one’s
behaviour.

Activity 4

Take 5 minutes to work on this activity

Queen belongs to a group of girls in school who call themselves
Yo-Girls. They are six in number. Almost the entire school
community in Bodiba Junior Secondary School know them
as they are notorious, well known for their bad behaviour
of dodging lessons, clubbing during weekends, drinking alcohol,
having boyfriends and wearing some funky clothes.
Fortunately for Queen she is more interested in her school work
because she is intelligent, and comes from a very strict family.

Every time she is with the group they tease her, tell her how much
she is not cool and that she really does not belong to their
group. Queen wants to be associated with the group, so she gets very
hurt every time they say that which makes her have a conflict of
values. With the fear of being teased, she automatically copies all
what her friends are doing and they even make an initiative of
getting her a boyfriend. Queen’s grades fall and her teacher calls
her parents to discuss her poor performance. It is during this time
that Queen’s parents, the class teacher and the principal discover

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that she has been hanging out with a bad group of girls around
school.
Try and answer these questions, some of them are based on the story.
(a) Did Queen’s friends influence her behaviour?
(b) Is this an example of negative or positive peer pressure?
(c) Have you ever been in trouble because of peer pressure?
(d) Do people of your age listen more to parents than to friends?
(e) Have you ever been able to resist peer pressure?
(f) Is it going to be easy for Queen to be herself again?
(g) What do you think might happen to Queen at the end?

Feedback to Activity 4
Response:
(a) Yes
(b) Negative
(c) This is your opinion
(d) Your own opinion (some do others do not)
(e) Your opinion
(f) No
(g) She might learn from her mistakes and become a better person.

Are your answers like mine? I do hope so, maybe we might differ only at numbers c), d), and
e), because there you are to give your own opinions.

Having answered the questions, I think you have a clear picture of what peer pressure is.
Some people submit to this influence because they want to be accepted by groups. Some
certain find themselves doing things that they really do not want to do. Some influence might
be good, for example, things like encouraging your friend to study hard so as to pass exams.

Now let us look at another agent that could influence our behaviour.

2.2 Mass-media
What does the mass - media involve?
Mass media refers to radio, newspapers, magazine, television, computers, books, bill-boards.
This is exactly what mass media involves. It refers to the means of communication in our
society. It disseminates information to people at all levels in different ways. You might
realise that we keep on referring to it as media or media images or mass media. Media has got
the strongest impact on our lives at present. We tend to have our behaviour changing greatly
because of the influence we get from media images. It starts from the food we eat, the clothes

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we wear, the cars we drive, the language we speak, the accent, tone or music we listen to.
Learner you can now see how we are greatly influenced by media.

For example, can you try and picture some of your parents’ old photos when your parents
were teenagers around the age of 13, compare them to yours now. Probably there is a big
difference. Do you know why it is like that? If you thought of this, that they look different
because the things which we have now were not there in the past like television, you are
right. Then you must be able to see how much media influences us. Let us now try and work
on the following activity.

Activity 5

Spend 5 minutes on this activity

1. Study the advert below and answer questions that follow
Figure 7

AIDS KILLS.
Avoid it and live longer
It is as easy as ABC.
A- Abstain
B - Be faithful
C - Condomise
We are prepared to encourage one another; the prevention of
the spread of HIV is our motto!

Stop AIDS, keep the Promise!

(a) What message do you get from the advert?

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

(b) How can this message influence your behaviour?

___________________________________________________________
(c) How does the message suggest to people in relation to their behaviour?
___________________________________________________________

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Feedback to Activity 5
I hope you managed to come up with good answers such as:
(a) The message that you get from the picture is that AIDS kills; you should avoid
AIDS so that you live longer.
(b) The message can influence one’s behaviour by making him or her to change
his/her behaviour and taking it as a stand to help stop the spread of HIV.
(c) The message suggests you change your behaviour from bad to better or from
wrong to right.

At this point you now have a good picture of how media can influence your behaviour in a
positive way.
Media can also have negative influence on us. For example, we can develop aggressive
attitude and behaviour from the violence that we watch on television in movies or soapies. In
some situations adolescents through watching movies on sexuality, may assume that it is
normal to have premarital sex. Media can also have negative influence on young girls
concerning their body image as they watch pictures of skinny models in magazines and feel
under pressure to binge on food.
Young boys on the other hand from watching images of well-built models feel insecure about
their physical appearances.

Take time and reflect by simply noting down some of the things you have learned from the
media, be it television, radio, newspapers or magazines.

Write at least five

(1) ______________________________________________________________________
(2) ______________________________________________________________________
(3) ______________________________________________________________________
(4) ______________________________________________________________________
(5) ______________________________________________________________________

Other things that we could learn from mass media that could influence our behaviour are:
• Acting
• Debate
• Public presentation
• How to be a super star
• How to gain respect
• Cooking
• How to relate well with others

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Discuss what you have written with your study mates.

How can beliefs influence our behaviour? Let us have a look at that.

2.3 Beliefs
What is a belief?
___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

You might think of looking for the meaning of this word in the dictionary and this is what you
might get. A belief is a strong feeling that something is true, real or good even though you do
not have a concrete proof. For example, some religious people believe in the existence of God
though they cannot give proof of who God is. Beliefs are a set of ideas that you are certain
are true, for example religious beliefs.

Beliefs, both religious and cultural, influence the way in which we behave. Our views,
opinions, ideas, feelings and values are influenced by our beliefs. They set standards for us
on whether something is right or wrong. Our beliefs guide our moral conduct. For example,
sangomas wear beads around their necks and arms, this is their belief that they are protected.

Guided by their religious beliefs some people pray on certain days and eat certain foods. For
example, Muslims pray five times a day and eat halal food. Jews worship on Sabbath and eat
kosher. Another example is that, when someone is a Christian, he or she is guided by the Ten
Commandments like, ‘Thou shall not steal, and Do not commit adultery’.

2.4 Experiences that influence people’s behaviour

An experience can come in a form of what you have seen, probably happening to somebody
or what has come from the family, school, community or from our role models. Experience
can help you know which actions or behaviour is acceptable. For example, if your class
teacher does not like students who skip/miss lessons or come late to class, you will try to do
things in the right way that is, by not skipping lessons or coming late to class.

Activity 6

Take five minutes to do this activity

You can use a dictionary to help you or use your previous knowledge.

Define the following terms

1. Family
___________________________________________________________

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2. School
____________________________________________________________
3. Community
____________________________________________________________
4. Role models
____________________________________________________________

Feedback to Activity 6
Check the response in the feedback section.
1. A family is a group of people related by blood, assimilation, adoption and
marriage.
2. A school is a place where children obtain formal education
3. A community is a group of people who live in a particular area.
4. A role model is someone you admire and you try to behave the way s/he
does.

Do you think the above in Activity 6 have contributed to your behaviour?

I strongly believe that your answer is YES . You observe and copy some behaviours from
other people and values taught in these institutions. It is easy to identify a role model and
imitate his or her behaviour. You see or read a lot about role models and eventually you learn
something of value from them.
Reflect on how the following situations might influence your behaviour. Share your responses
with your study mate. What would you do if:
• Your mother does not like someone who comes home late.
• Your teacher does not like noise making in class.
• The elders in your community expect every woman to wear a head scurf.
• Your elder sister is always taking care of the younger siblings

What kind of behaviour are you likely to copy from the people you have just
mentioned? Is it good or bad?
___________________________________________________________________________

I hope your answer is correct because the examples above show that you can only copy
behaviour that is right because you have experienced it, you liked it.

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3.0 The Influence of Factors on the Individual,

Family and Community
Now that we have looked at how factors like role models, mass media, school, family and
religion influence people’s behaviour, we are now moving on to look at how the influence of
these factors impact on the individual, the family and the community.

3.1 Role models

1. When role models influence people it impacts on the individual; in the following
manner:
(a) If the influence is positive:
• A person is able to discover his/ her talents and use them to become successful
in life, for example if one is influenced by a business person in society, they
might work hard to be a successful business person.
• A person discovers his/her strengths and become assertive, he/she is in a position
to express their demands constructively.

(b) If the influence is negative:

• People can imitate their role models and can imitate bad things such as taking
drugs,
• People might end up being abused by their role models
• Imitations of bad behaviour might make one loose his/her life

2. Impact on the family

The impact of the role model can either be positive or negative. We will discuss each
one of the impacts.

(a) Positive influence

• The family will be proud of a person who displays acceptable behaviour
• The family will be famous because of the behaviour of the family member
• Developments will also take place in the family

(b) Negative Influence

• It brings shame on the family
• If the person gets sick or dies in the process of imitating the role model, the
family will incur unnecessary financial expenses

3. Impact on the community

Role Models can have a wider impact on different families within a certain locality or
even nation. How is the impact at community level different from the impact at
individual and family level? Think about this before you move on.

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(a) Positive influence

• The community will have productive and responsible members
• The community will develop faster
• The community will be crime free
• The community will be admired by other communities

(b) Negative influence

• If people lose their lives, that will decrease the population of the community
• The society will be stigmatised because of people’s bad habits
• There will be no developments
• The society will lose valuable members if the members indulge in activities
which might cost them their lives

3.2 Religion
Religion offers direction on how people should lead their lives. It offers ideal moral standards
for people to follow. These standards help us to become better people. Religion also gives
people the basis for developing their faith or a system of belief to follow.
1. Positive influence of religion on the individual
• Religion can guide the moral conduct of individuals.
• It promotes good relationships among people.
• It helps to improve the spirituality of the individual.
• The ethical codes of religion promote interpersonal religions

2. Negative influence of religion on society

Religion
• Religion increase religious intolerence that may cause prejudice, persecution and
even war.
• Religion can cause over population in society
• Religion may delay success in scientific developments
• Religion may hinder medical processes such as discouraging members of the
commuxnity from using contraceptives or accepting blood transfusion.

Summary
We have looked at different factors which influence our behaviour, such as the agents of
change in the community .We observed that they bring about change of behaviour in people.
These agents of change could be:
• peer pressure,
• mass media

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• religious and cultural beliefs

• role models
• families
• school
• the community and many other agents which we come across during our daily
lives.

These factors have strong influences in the world around us. Some agents of change can force
us to do good or right things, which are morally acceptable. But in some situations agents
of change can mislead us into doing actions that we are not proud of, that is influencing us
towards behaviour that is uncalled for, is unacceptable and can even land us into trouble. We
can say that these factors can change our behaviour to be either negative or positive.

Now to find out how much you have learnt from this lesson, please attempt the following
self-assessment exercise.

Self-Assessment Exercise 2

You are allowed to spend 45 minutes on this exercise. It carries 35 marks.

There are two sections, Section A consists of multiple choice, Section B has short answer
questions while Section C consists of essays.

Section A: Multiple choice [5 Marks]

1. Agents of change in the community means

A. Moral development in the community
B. Factors that bring about change in the community
C. Someone who helps bring about change
D. The influence of community members on each other

2. How do bill boards influence behaviour? They

A. Encourage us to break family rules and values
B. Teach us to think critically and creatively and be role models
C. Advertise information on issues affecting people so that they change
D. Give followers guidance and counseling about good behaviour

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3. Which of the following is NOT agent of change influencing behavioural change?

A. Schools
B. Values
C. Puberty
D. Taboos
4. How can role models promote good behaviour in young people? By
A. Influencing them to abuse drugs
B. Influencing them to vandalise property
C. Influencing them to discover their talents
D. Encouraging them to follow their peers

5. Examples of positive peer influence include

A. Living according to moral values
B. Creating codes of conduct and laws
C. Behaving in immoral ways
D. Absconding from school

Section B: Short Answer Questions [15 marks]

Answer the following questions in the spaces provided.
1. What is a community? [1 mark]
___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________
2. State three factors that influence people’s behaviour. [3marks]
___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

3. What is mass-media? [2 marks]

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

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4. What are beliefs? [2 marks]

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________
5. State whether the following statements are true or false
(a) Our beliefs guide our moral conduct. T/ F
(b) A belief is the same thing as a practice. T/ F
(c) Peer pressure is the influence we get from our parents. T/ F
(d) Radios and Televisions are the only examples of mass media. T/ F
(e) Media influences people to change their behaviour. T/ F
(f) An experience involves what has happened to you only. T/ F
(g) What a person experienced can change his/ her behaviour. T/ F
[7 marks]

Section C: Essay
1. Describe how each of the following factors influence our behaviour. [15 marks]
(a) Mass media
(b) Peer-Pressure
(c) Experiences
___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

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___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Your score Total

Section A ___________ [5 marks]
Section B ___________ [15 marks]
Section C ___________ [15 marks]
Total ___________ [35 marks]
Percentage: ___________ 100%

Use feedback section at the end of the unit to mark your work . If you have scored 70%
and above you may proceed to the next lesson, but if you have scored less than 70%,
please repeat this lesson.

Glossary
Acquire: Get something
Disseminate: Distribute
Emotions: Feelings
Imitate: Copy the behaviour of someone you admire
Moral behaviour: Acceptable behaviour
Opinions: Views

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Answers to Self-assessment Exercises

Feedback to Self - assessment Exercise 1

Section A: Multiple choice answers
1. C
2. B
3. B
4. B
5. A

Section B: Short Answer Questions

1. What is a family
It is a group of people living together, related by blood, marriage, and/or assimilation.
2. Give three examples of norms of family life in Botswana.
• Greeting other family members
• Helping other family members with chores
• Attending to other family member’s social activities such as weddings.
3. Give three examples of family values in Botswana
Respect
Cooperation
Compassion
Tolerance
Honesty
Rearing livestock
Growing crops

Section C: Essay
1. Explain any five ways in which a family can influence moral development of a child.
• It teaches children the acceptable ways of behaviour such as respect of the
customs and traditions of our society
• It provides care for the dependants such as children. Then only when the
children become adults they will look after their dependants.
• It teaches them the norms and values of their society.
• It gives children love and support.
• It provides basic needs like to pay for food, housing and to keep the
children healthy.
• It teaches children good values so that they grow up to be hard working and
responsible in their community.

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• It teaches children to accept rules and authority so that they can abide by the law
as citizens.
• Everyone in the family especially children need protection and security.

Feedback to Self-assessment Exercise 2

Section A: Multiple Choice Answers
1. B
2. C
3. C
4. C
5. A

Section B: Short Answer Questions

1. What is a community?
(a) A group of people living together, including families and other structures of
society, which shares common values and traditions.
2. State four factors that influence our behaviour.
(a) Mass-media
(b) Religious beliefs
(c) Peer-Pressure
(d) Experiences
3. What is mass media?
These are means of mass communication in our society, which may include radio,
newspaper, television.
4. What are beliefs?
A belief is something that you can accept as right and true, and you live up to.
5. State whether the following statements are True or False
(a) Our beliefs guide our moral conduct. T
(b) A belief is the same thing as a practice. F
(c) Peer Pressure is the influence we get from our parents. F
(d) Radios and Televisions are the only examples of mass media. F
(e) Media can influence people to change their behaviour. T
(f) An experience involves what has happened to you. T
(g) What a person experienced can change his/ her behaviour. T

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Section C: Essay
Describe how each of the following factors influences people’s behaviour.

Mass media
• The mass media can greatly influence people’s behaviour as they may interpret
certain images portrayed, as true and they can admire those which may then
influence them to behave in a similar way to what they see on media. For
example, people may buy a certain product because they have seen it advertised
on television. This may be helpful at times, but it may also mislead them such
that they might spend their money on things that may not necessarily be helpful.

• Mass media can also be used to caution people about outbreaks of dangerous
diseases and educate them on preventative measures, e.g. HIV/AIDS messages
are usually broadcast over media, and people are informed about the use of
condoms and abstinence as ways of preventing the spread of the disease. People will
then use condoms to avoid contracting and transmitting HIV/AIDS.

Peer-Pressure
• Peer pressure can greatly influence the way in which we behave as our friends are
in a better position to influence us. At times the influence can be positive, which
may make us active in doing good acts which can come from the influence of
our friends.
On the other hand peer pressure can be negative at times, like when peers
influence each other to be involved with multiple sexual partners, which may lead
to the spread of sexually transmitted infections such as HIV.

Experience
• An experience is what we have learned and discovered as a result of what we
intended to do or as a result of what we find ourselves having to go through
because of the situation that transpired. It can enable one to gain experience of
how to do things in a much better way, and produce good results, and or it can
enable one to be cautious when doing something because they are aware of
the risks involved in doing that particular activity, e.g. if one has lost a relative in
a car accident due to driving at a high speed, one can be more careful when he
drives his car.

©2019 BOU
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