A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION

The department of educational foundations before now was designated the “Department of Educational Foundations and Management”.

However, in 2016, the department became a distinct unit when its sister unit the “Educational Management” was separated from it to become a full-fledged “Department of Educational Management” as designed by the University authority.

Also, the department is involved in the postgraduate studies programme which started in 2016 by the university and trains students in the three major disciplines of Sociology of Education, Physiology of Education and history and policy of Education at the Masters and Ph.D. levels. The Department has successfully graduated fourteen Ph.D. students and thirty-six M.Ed. students in record time (from 2016/2018 to 2018/2019 academic session) and all the graduates took part in the University convocation ceremony held in December, 2020

At present, the department has postgraduate’s students (PGDE, M.Ed. and Ph.D. students) undergoing studies in the various disciplines in the department.

It is important to note that the department has produced very resourceful personnel who have served both the department and the university in various capacities. Some of this personnels includes, Prof. Livinus Ogbondah, the pioneer Head of Department, whose tenure started on the 22^nd of October, 2015 when the department was still known as the “Department of Educational Foundations and Management”. He continued as the Head of Department of Educational Foundations after the Department of Educational Management was separated in 2016 from Educational Foundations to the 21^st of March when his tenure terminated. He was also the immediate past Associate Associate Dean of the Post Graduate School.

Dr. Uriah Oboada A, took over the Headship of the Department and serving currently as the Acting Head of Department from March 2017 till date (June 2021). Prof J.E. Ezekiel Hart who served as the Chairman of the University Consultancy Services and erstwhile Dean of the Faculty of Education. Prof. Samuel Amaele who was the immediate past Director, Ethics and Quality Assurance and currently serving as the Director of Centre for Continuing Education programme (C.C.E), Prof. G.E. Elechi who is serving a second term in office as the Director of Teaching Practice had previously served as Head of Department and Dean of the Faculty and Dr. Jerome I. Wosu who is also serving a second term in office as the Director of Basic Studies Unit.

THE VISION

The vision of the department is to produce teachers that will be continuously relevant in the Humanities, social sciences, technology, as well as research, through the provision of sound foundational courses in Education.

THE MISSION

The mission is the production of teachers who would be effective in the classroom as well as in the socio-political, psychological, and economic development of the learner in their field of professional endeavours. Teachers are studios in research and knowledge dissemination.

The mission will be achieved through the following

1. Quality teaching and research
2. Adequate supervision and monitoring of both teachers and students
3. Training and retraining of teachers for effectiveness and efficiency
4. Emphasis on character training and modelling
5. Ensure adequate provision of infrastructural and human resources for quality assurance
6. Internet and other technological/vocational programmes for teachers and students
7. Proper discipline and reward measures
8. Staff and students welfare services and programmes

OBJECTIVES

The departmental courses are designed to:

1. Prepare students as professional practitioners in the field of education.
2. Orient foundational studies to the felt needs of the nation, particularly in the area of educational and moral development.
3. Make educational foundation the reference point for other departments and faculties in the University of Education and Faculties of Education in the other Universities within and outside Nigeria.
4. Discourage or even eliminate various forms of social ills such as examination malpractices, cultism, immorality, sorting, sexual harassment etc. that are fast becoming part of the school system.
5. Encourage and stimulate hard-work, creativity, scholarship among teachers and students so as to meet up with the present and future demands of the country.
6. Produce great thinkers (philosophers), sociologist, historians, moralists and other personalities in the field of education that can compete favourably with their contemporaries within and outside Nigeria.