Introduction

Faculty Of Education

The Faculty of Education was founded in 1963, and was initially named the School of Education. The School of Education offered the postgraduate Diploma in Education to graduates who chose to enter the teaching profession. The school expanded rapidly and was upgraded to the status of faculty in July 1965. The Master of Education (M.Ed) programme was introduced for the first time two years later and this was followed by the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) programme in 1969.

Since its establishment, the Faculty of Education has successfully trained almost 20,000 graduates. From among them, more than 15,000 have graduated with the Diploma in Education, more than 2,282 with a Masters degree and about 3,500 with a Bachelor in Education degree.

The Faculty is proactive in keeping pace with the ever-changing demands in the field of education. This includes the reappraisal of programmes and courses, curriculum revisions and departmental restructuring to accommodate new changes when necessary. In 1970, the structure of the Faculty comprised five divisions. However, because of new developments and paradigm shifts in the educational system, the Faculty had a series of restructuring and reorganisation exercises to enable the Faculty to realise its vision and objectives. The latest organisational restructuring was carried out in 2001 resulting in the formation of the following departments; Department of Educational Foundations and Humanities, Department of Educational Psychology and Counselling, Department of Educational Management, Planning and Policy, Department of Language and Literacy Education, Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Department of Curriculum and Instructional Technology, and the Institute of Educational Leadership. In the year 2020, the Institute of Educational Leadership was reintegrated into the Department of Educational Management, Planning and Policy. 

Besides offering courses at the postgraduate level since its inception, the Faculty also has conducted undergraduate programmes. Among these programmes is the Bachelor of Science with Education (B.Sc.Ed.). The programme was jointly initiated with the Faculty of Science in 1975, to meet the great demand for science and mathematics teachers at the upper secondary level. Another programme is the Bachelor of Islamic Education (B. Islamic Ed.) which was introduced in 1982. This course is conducted jointly with the Academy of Islamic Studies, University Malaya, to prepare teachers to teach Islamic Studies in schools.

In 1980, the Faculty started its own undergraduate programme the Bachelor of Education in the Teaching of English as a Second Language (B. Ed. TESL). The programme was run in collaboration with the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Other degree programmes offered by the Faculty include the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education which commenced in 1998 followed by the Bachelor of Counselling in 1997. An undergraduate program in Early Childhood Education was offered for the first time in 1998 and followed with another undergraduate program leading to the Bachelor of Counselling. Bachelor of Education (Teaching of Tamil Language) was offered in 2000 with the last intake for the programme being in 2004. In 2004, the Bachelor of Education (Teaching English as a Second Language) Primary Education was offered. Besides the above programmes, the Faculty is also involved in joint programmes with other faculties. Other programmes are the Bachelor of Education (Teaching of Tamil) conducted jointly with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Bachelor of Language and Linguistics with Education (Chinese) conducted jointly with the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics.

The Faculty’s role is not limited to teacher education. Each Faculty member has his/her own area of expertise in a particular field of education and many serve as advisers or consultants to the Ministry of Education and various organisations. Some members of the Faculty work closely with overseas and international agencies including the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF, IBRD, RESCAM and RELC. All academic staff members are actively involved in research and numerous papers and articles have been published in both local and international journals. Research by faculty members is largely sponsored by grants from the University or agencies from within and outside the country.