DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

In 1962, Primary teacher education was seen as the key to educational development in Nigeria. To attain this goal, qualified teachers, the Federal Government and UNESCO, therefore, established five Advanced Teacher Training Colleges (ATTC) from existing Elementary Training Centres, (ETC), Teacher Training Colleges (TTC) and Higher Elementary Training Colleges (HETC), which led to the training of primary teachers.

To maintain the rate of graduate teachers, the Federal Government launched a crash program for teachers in 1968. The training of primary teachers’ centres was maintained as ATTC from 1971 till 17^th January 1978 when the college was converted to Rivers State College of Education (COE) and the NCE Primary Education Studies programme was introduced and sponsored then by UNESCO.

The College of Education was affiliated with the University of Ibadan and in September 1975, UNESCO saw the need to have a Faculty of Primary Education in Rivers State College of Education Port Harcourt. This was a result of the guidelines of Childhood Education World Organizing bodies like OMEP, UNESCO and UN1CEF.

Dr. Younge and three other lecturers were sent from Canada to Rivers State College of Education, Port Harcourt, to establish a Faculty of Primary Education. The Faculty was first sited at Oromenike, in Diobu. It had a total number of 23 lecturers and Dr. Younge was Dean of the Faculty while Dr. (Miss) Amadi was the coordinator of studies. In 1979, UNESCO sent Mr. M. J. Ohaka to Canada for an M.Ed, degree in Curriculum Studies and Mr. Jonan Eteli for Science Education in the United States of America. In 1980, Prof. C. S. Akpe joined the Faculty and in 1982, he took over from Dr. Younge as Dean of the Faculty of Primary Education.

In 1984 Dr. Sammy Ebiye became the Dean of the faculty. He later handed it to M. J. Ohaka in 1986. In 1987, the faculty moved from Oromenike campus in D-Line to St. John’s campus on Aba road, which was previously a teachers’ training college.

The Faculty of Primary Education had departments/units as its minors in accordance with the specification given by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to its member nations. They were as follows:

1. Mathematics
2. Language Arts
3. Integrated Science
4. Creative Arts
5. Pre-Primary (Nursery) Education
6. Physical /Health Education
7. Education courses (philosophy, psychology, sociology)
8. Social Studies
9. Christian Religious Studies
10. Music

Thus, NCE programme major and minor courses were also offered in the faculty under the following combinations:

1. Primary Education Studies/ Social studies
2. Primary Education Studies/ Integrated Science
3. Primary Education Studies/ Physical and Health
4. Primary Education Studies/ English Language
5. Primary Education Studies/ Mathematics
6. Primary Education Studies/Agricultural science
7. Primary Education Studies / Human kinetics
8. Primary Education Studies/Music
9. Primary Education Studies/French
10. Primary Education Studies/Business Education

All the courses in all the departments/units at the time were compulsory. In the 1985/86 academic session, some of the courses in the faculty were converted to required courses. On the 23^rd of February 1987, the programme changed conditions for teaching practice. Students that passed all compulsory courses and those that have a carryover only in required courses went to teaching practice. The Faculty of Primary Education Studies now the Department of Early Childhood/Primary Education at the time also offered the ACE programme for teachers with teachers’ training certificates.

Each of the departments in the faculty had an adequate number of students on enrolment. It is important to note that the Faculty constantly prepared and updated its curriculum. The faculty became a department in 1986, after a merger by the then Provost, Professor G.O.M Tasie. Most of the lecturers in the faculty were distributed into secondary departments in the college based on their areas of specialisation. Since 1986, the Department of Primary Education Studies had been under the Faculty of Education since then.

The department is a parent department of the faculty of education. The photo voice of the department speaks in a nutshell about what the department can teach and do practically. In 1997 the department moved from St. John’s campus to the main campus at Rumuolumeni where the Faculty of Education had a major structure.

It is interesting to note that the department produced the first professor of the institution; Professor C. S. Akpe. The department has produced to her credit some very good students at both the NCE and the BE.d levels most of whom include Professor A. A. Okujagu, Professor Hellen Sokari A-Okujagu, Professor Nnamdi Anero, Dr. Wilhelmina Solomon, Dr. Princewill Ejekwu, and Benjamin Wadi.  They have been employed and are working exceptionally hard as lecturers in the department.

In 2014, the department officially registered with OMEP and was inaugurated by the national president, Mrs. Patricia Okeke under the headship of Professor Hellen Sokari A-Okujagu. OMEP is a well-renowned national and international organization. The department up to 2014 had nineteen (19) staff to her credit-3 Professors, 6 Senior Lectures, 1 Lecturer 1, 2 Lecturer 11, 2 Assistant Lecturers and 5 non-teaching staff.

With the upgrading of the institution to degree awarding status in 1982, the department started running degree programmes in Primary Education Studies in 1991. The administration of the department had been in conformity with the institution’s organizational structure. Setting, valuation and moderation of examination questions are done both internally and externally. The entire programme in the department was administered under the affiliation to the University of Ibadan till 2009 when the institution became autonomous and a full fledge University of Education. In 2016, the department was fully accredited by NUC under the headship of Professor Nnamdi Anero. In 2018 the name was changed from Department of Primary Education Studies to Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education still under the headship of Ass. Prof. Nnamdi Anero.

In 2016, the department started running Post Graduate programmes in Ph.D. and M.Ed. in both Early Childhood and Primary Education options. In the year 2019, The Department of Early Childhood /Primary Education produced the first Associate Dean of the Faculty; Professor Hellen  Sokari A-Okujagu  and on the of 4^th July  2019 the department produced the first Ph.D graduate of the Ignatius Ajuru University Post Graduate School, Dr. Mrs. Beatrice Amadi-Ali during the headship of Professor Ekaette I. Ekpo.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE DEPARTMENT

The philosophy of the Department of Early Childhood/Primary Education (ECPE) is to train qualified, efficient and motivated caregivers and teachers for the Early Childcare centres, pre-primary and primary education levels of the school system. This is in line with the view that all caregivers and primary school teachers lay the foundation of the entire educational system which will equip the individual throughout life.

AIM/OBJECTIVES

The department considers the training of well-qualified, competent, highly motivated, conscientious and efficient teachers as its main business.  This is handled such that by the end of the course, students should be able to:

1. effectively give care and teach in the early childcare, pre-primary and primary schools adhering to the curriculum;
2. manifest desirable leadership skills and supervisory roles required in caregiving and teaching at both the early childhood centres, pre-primary, and primary school levels;
3. participate effectively in curriculum development of the above-stated levels of ed
   ucation;
4. participate in and cope with innovations in the above-stated levels of education;
5. initiate and participate effectively in community development;
6. improvise/ produce instructional aids using local content materials;
7. Pursue further studies in early childhood, pre-primary/ primary education, and related areas; the department should be able:
8. to train qualified teachers for the above-stated levels of education;
9. to train highly motivated teachers who would want to further their education in the areas stated above; and
10. to train supervisors and administrators for the levels of education stated above.

Beyond these goals, the department also considered the following objectives as imperatives. They are as follows:

1. Effectively teach all subjects in the Nigerian Primary School Curriculum and the integrated early childhood curriculum;
2. Manifest desirable leadership skills and supervisory roles;
3. Participate effectively in curriculum development in early childhood/primary schools;
4. Participate in and cope with innovations in the childhood/primary school system;
5. Initiate and participate effectively in community development;
6. Improvise/produce instructional aides using local content materials;
7. Pursue postgraduate studies in childhood/primary education and related areas;
8. Teach undergraduate students and other levels as permissible;
9. Participate as resource persons in workshops and seminars organized for the training; of teachers at early childhood and primary education.