Almost immediately after the provisional council of the university of Ife, (now Obafemi Awolowo university) had approved the creation of the faculty of education in October, 1976, a proposal for re-structuring and re-organization of the faculty (then consisting of only 4 units-Department of Education, Department of Adult Education, Institute of Education and General Studies) was approved by the senate of the university. The department of special education and curriculum studies (SEC) was one of the newly carved out units.
The B.Sc. (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics) Education programmes, which were and still located in the department were designed to provide academic and professional training for teachers in the Nation's secondary schools. The B.Sc. (Education) programme is structured to produce the right caliber of dedicated professional teachers in both quality and quantity to meet the national curriculum objectives of science education at the secondary school level. Accordingly, students in the department undergo in-depth courses in both physical (Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physics) and Biological (Botany and Zoology) in the faculty of science where they acquire sound and relevant concepts, knowledge attitude and skills pertinent to the need of a changing society.
The pedagogical components of the programme are offered in the faculty of education which also organizes twelve weeks (six weeks in second and another six weeks in the third year) of compulsory and supervised practice teaching exercise.
Hence at the end of the minimum four-year B.Sc. programme (three years minimum for Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) graduate from affiliated Colleges of Education), graduates of the department are deemed to be both professionally and academically prepared to:
•teach Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics at both the Junior and Secondary School levels and at the non-degree teacher training colleges
•inculcate in the students the spirit and attitude of inquiry, creativity and the ability to think critically, rationally and effectively in solving personal and professional problems.