About Us

History

There was a Department of Education when the Faculty of Education was founded in 1975 as one of the first Faculties at the University College, Ilorin. At that time, the Department of Education provided degree programmes in the arts, sciences, guidance and counseling, and educational management.   The Department of Education had grown in student enrollment and degree offers by the start of the 1978–1979 academic year, which was sufficient justification for splitting the existing degree programmes into three separate departments.  To be more precise, in 1979, the Department of Education was divided into three separate departments: (a) the Department of Teacher Education; (b) the Department of Guidance and Management; and (c) the Department of Adult Education and Extension Services. By the academic year 1979–1980, the Department of Teacher Education had started to organize the degree programmes in the Humanities, Sciences, and Education, as well as the Educational Foundation courses for all Education students in the Faculty of Education.

The Faculty of Business and Social Sciences was founded in 1980. It offers degree programmes in social sciences including geography and economics, and it made it possible to start degree programmes in social sciences education. As a result, the Department of Teacher Education grew beyond what was manageable. A proposal to restructure the Departments in the Faculty of Education was brought to the University Senate to reduce the degree programmes offered by the Department of Teacher Education.As a result of this suggestion, the Department of Curriculum Studies and Educational Technology was created from the Department of Teacher Education in March 1981.The Department of Curriculum Studies and Educational Technology began offering degree programmes in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, and economics education by October 1981.The degree programme in educational technology, which is situated under the department, received approval from the university senate in 1983 and commenced in the 1984/1985 academic year.Thus, the Department of Curriculum Studies and Educational Technology offered degree programmes in Economics and Geography Education as well as degree programmes in Physics Education, Chemistry Education, Biology Education, Mathematics Education, and Educational Technology from 1984 to 2004.In August 2004, the Department of Curriculum Studies and Educational Technology was divided into two distinct departments: Science Education and Social Sciences Education.

Degree programmes in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics education, and educational technology are offered by the Department of Science Education. The Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education, originally known as the Department of Educational Foundations,  houses degree programmes in social science education such as economics and geography..  In August 2013 the Department of Educational Technology was carved out of the Department of Science Education.  The Department of Science Education now offers degree programmes leading to the B.Sc. (Ed) degree in Agricultural Science, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics.

The department is dedicated to the university’s vision and mission, community development, teaching, learning, and research in science education. In order to address both domestic and global needs, it focuses emphasis on developing a new generation of professional science teachers who are proficient in all disciplinary and pedagogical aspects of science education.