HISTORY OF THE FACULTY OF EDUCATION

The Faculty of Education was one of the three Faculties established in 1976 with an omnibus Department which ran degree programmes in Arts, Sciences, Guidance and Counselling and Educational Management.

As the Department expanded, three new Departments (i.e. the Departments of Teacher Education; Guidance and Management; Adult Education and Extension Services) were established. The three Departments started to function effectively in 1979. Under the new dispensation, the Department of Teacher Education coordinated the teaching of foundations courses to all students of Education in the Sciences and humanities programmes. 

In 1980, the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences was established in the University and as a result, the Department of Teacher Education also started to run degree programmes in Social Sciences Education (i.e. Economics and Geography Education). Expectedly, the Department, which had been renamed Department of Educational Foundations in 1981, became overstretched. Therefore, the Department of Curriculum Studies was carved out of the Department of Educational Foundations in 1982. In 1984, the University Senate approved B.Ed Educational Technology programme. The new programme was housed in the Department of Curriculum Studies, which informed its change of name to Department of Curriculum Studies and Educational Technology (CSET). The CSET Department catered for the professional training of student teachers of Science Education and Social Sciences Education.

Early in 2005, based on the proposal of the Faculty of Education Programme and Departmental Restructuring Committee, recommendations were made to the University Senate for all Arts and Humanities Education Programmes to be housed in one Department; and all Science related programmes in another Department. Thus, in August 2005, the University of Ilorin Senate formally approved that the Department of Curriculum Studies and Educational Technology, as well as the Department of Educational Foundations, be restructured into two different Departments (i.e. the Department of Science Education responsible for the award of five degree programmes, (B.Sc. (Ed) Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and B.Ed. E; and Educational Technology); and the Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education with Specialisation in eight Arts and two Social Sciences degree programmes (i.e. B.A. (Ed.) in Arabic, Christian Studies, English, French, History, Islamic Studies, Primary Education Studies (PES), Yoruba and B.Sc. (Ed.) Economics and Geography).

In response to the directives of the National University Council (NUC), the 230^th regular meeting of the University of Ilorin Senate, on the 10^th of January 2013, approved that the Department of arts and Social Sciences Education be further split into two i.e. Arts Education and Social Sciences Education.

Approval was also given for the establishment of the Department of Educational Technology from the Department of Science Education. As a result, majority of the Educational Foundations courses were housed in the Department Social Sciences Education and three other Foundation courses housed in the Department of Arts Education.

In view of all these changes, the Faculty now has a total number of nine Departments namely:

1. Adult and Primary Education Studies
2. Arts Education
3. Counsellor Education
4. Educational Management
5. Educational Technology
6. Health Promotion and Environmental Health Education
7. Human Kinetics Education
8. Science Education
9. Social Sciences Education 

Institute and Centres

Affiliated to the Faculty are the Institute of Education and the Centre for Supportive Services for the Deaf. The Faculty also houses the University Sports and Educational Technology Centres.

Faculty Management

From inception to date, sixteen Deans have provided leadership for the Faculty as listed below:

Student Population

The Faculty of Education which started with 108 students is today, about the largest in the University with a student population of 10, 377.