Department of Arts and Social Science Education

Department of Arts and Social Science Education

Federal University Lokoja (FUL) was established alongside eight other new Federal Universities on the 16th of February, 2011 through a pronouncement by the then President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ).

Prof. Abdulmuminu Hassan Rafindadi was appointed the first Vice- Chancellor and Mrs Habiba Anavosa Adeiza as the first Registrar. The University commenced academic activities in December, 2012 and by 2018/2019 academic session, had graduated four sets of graduants from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences which had five Departments (i.e. Department of English and Literary Studies; History and International Studies; Economics; Geography and Political Science) and Faculty of Science which had six (6) Departments (i.e. Biologocal Sciences; Chemistry; Computer Science; Geology; Mathematical Sciences and Physics)

However, by 2019/2020 academic session, the current management, under the able leadership of the second Vice-Chancellor,  Prof. Angela Freeman Miri, had obtained approval from the National Universities Commission (NUC) to commence 29 new programmes in the University. This led to the establishment of the Faculty of Education in the University. The Faculty of Education is housing fifteen programmes structured into four departments for the time being. The departments of Arts and Social Sciences Education is housing seven (7) programmes. They are:

(1) B.A (Ed) English Language (2) (B.A (Ed) History and International Studies

(3) B.Sc (Ed) Economics (4) B.Sc (Ed) Geography (5) B.Sc (Ed) Political Science

(6) B.Ed Social Studies and (7) B.Sc (Ed) Business Education

 The Department of Science Education is housing six (6) programmes they are:

 (8) B.Sc (Ed) Biological Science (9) B.Sc (Ed) Chemistry (10) B.Sc (Ed) Computer Science

(11) B.Sc (Ed) Integrated Science (12) B.Sc (Ed) Physics and (13) B.Sc (Ed) Mathematical Sciences. The Department of Library and Information Science is housing the fourteenth(14) Programme, BLIS. Libray and Information Science. While Department of Education is housing the fifteenth(15) Programme, B.Ed Guidance and Counseling.

So, the Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education is unarguably housing the largest programmes in the Federal University Lokoja, and it came into existence in the 2019/2020 academic session. Dr Awobi Amos Made was appointed the first Acting Head of Department/ Coordinator on January 7, 2020. On 5th January, 2022, Dr Terver Titus Udu, an Associate Professor of English Education who was on spending his sabbatical leave in the Faculty was appointed the substantive Head of Department.

Objectives

In line with the general aims and objectives of education and training in consonance with the realisation of national needs and aspirations vis-a-vis personal and national development, the graduates of the department must be resourceful, creative, knowledgeble, and be able to perform the  following functions in line with the vision of Federal University Lokoja.

  1. To provide pre-service training for teachers to enable them acquire a working knowledge and competency in the philosophical, psychological and sociological foundations of education which can be used as a basis for decision making, instructional design and educational plann
  2. To exhibit the knowledge, skills and attitudes which will enable them to contribute to the growth and development of their communities in particular and the nation in general.
  3. To be able to exhibit sound mastery of their subject areas and the ability to impact such knowledge to their students.
  4. To provide cognitive, affective and psychomotor learning in communication, problem solving, value clarification, social institutions, science, technology and the arts.
  5. To be highly motivated, conscientious and effective classroom teachers for all levels  of our educational system who are able to effectively use various classroom management systems and an awareness of the strong ralationship between classroom management practices and teaching effectiveness as professional teachers.
  6. To demonstrate the spirit of enquiry, creativity and entrepreneurship in teachers who are active, creative and constructive participants in Nigeria’s economic and democratic institutions.

Mission Statement

The mission of the  Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education is to excel in the dissemination of knowledge to students that would enable them to become employable graduates through competency based teaching, applied research and practical community service to the immediate environment, state and the nation.

Vision

The vission of the Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education is to channel human and material resources to promote qualitative teaching and learning, research and community service through outreach programmes to schools within and outside the environment by touching their lives in many positive ways.

Philosophy

It is often said that no nation can rise above the quality of its teachers. Therefore, the future of any nation is determined, to a large extent, on the quality of education it provides to its citizens. The ability of the Nigerian nation to respond in a thoughtful and productive manner to the revolutionary trends in knowledge will depend on the ability of the universities to provide a dynamic curriculum, inspirational teaching and learning environment and a well equipped individual who is skillful and ingrained with subject matter competency. The philosophy of the teacher education programme of Federal University Lokoja is based on a decision- making model which defines the role of the teacher as an instructional decision maker. Here, the teacher must make decision about pedagogical and lesson plan design. In other words, the teacher must make decisions about classroom management, curriculum development to meet the yearning of the society, field experiences, technology and programme evaluation, communications, use of science, problem solving, values clarification and so on. Central to the preparation for teaching is the conceptual framework composed of knowledge, skills and techniques of delivery that have been gathered from research, reported effective practices, and learned societies in such areas as human growth and development, learning theories, evaluation, cultural deversity and special need, curriculum content, psychological, sociological and philosophical foundations, principles of effective instruction, and school effectiveness.