Department of Educational Foundations

The Faculty of Education emerged as one of the foundation faculties of the University of Jos in 1976. It began under the Acting Deanship of Dr. N. E. Obioha after which Professor N.M. Cooper came in, as the first substantive Dean. Initially, there were only two Departments – Foundations and Curriculum Studies. Students in the faculty were administratively managed in two Departments; The Department of Curriculum Studies enrolled and registered all students of the faculty until the Special Education Department was introduced in 1978. Thereafter, The Special Education Department registered its own students while Foundations was more pre-occupied with postgraduate training. There was little wonder therefore, that by 1977/78, the department was able to graduate the first batch of postgraduate students, even before it graduated its first degree students. Thanks to the high calibre staff that founded the faculty and laid the foundation of the admirable postgraduate programmes run by the faculty today. The history of the faculty is that of steady growth. Student enrolment in 1976 was only 50 and has now grown to 500. Academic staff in the faculty were only 9 in 1976 and has increased to 85 by 1998. Programmes have similarly expanded in depth and breadth following the restructuring of the departments in the faculty. The undergraduate enrolment grew so large that it could no longer be effectively managed by a department by 1994. The accreditation of courses in Nigerian Universities by the National Universities Commission and the survival of The Foundations Department informed the transfer of the liberal arts-based courses and staff to the newly created Department of Arts and Social Science Education in 1994. The staff, students and science-based programmes that were left, after the transfer, became The Science and Technology Education Department. The steady growth and development of the faculty during the 1990s necessitated the creation of additional departments. Hence, it is anticipated that additional departments will be created within this planning period, not only to make the faculty more relevant in meeting national needs but also to achieve optimal productivity of both staff and students.

Table of Contents

Adult Education

In consonant with the aims of higher education and the faculty’s mission statement, the faculty is actively involved in teaching to produce high calibre teachers for the Nation. Thus, the faculty is involved in preparing teachers in various programmes in Arts & Social Sciences Education, Science and Technology Education and Special Education at the diploma, undergraduate and post-graduate levels. In addition to the first degree full time programmes, the faculty is appropriately responding to its community needs via services to government sponsored part-time programmes. From its humble beginnings, training for government parastatals, non-government organisation started in the 1970s as a Plateau State Project and has assumed national dimension by 1986. It has since continued to grow from strength to strength, as a viable tool for producing the much needed professional teachers for improving and sustaining the quality of education in the nation’s schools. Individually and as a faculty, staff have embarked upon several research efforts focused on the educational problems of the immediate locality as well as that of the entire nation. The staff of the faculty is of high calibre and of excellent national and international standing. The presence of such staff confirms the preparedness of the faculty to carry out its mission statement. With this pool of human resources, the faculty is prepared for even greater challenges.